The Free Press
Why U.S. Policy Has Failed in the Middle East
- Title
- Why U.S. Policy Has Failed in the Middle East
- Date posted
- 8 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
Obama, Biden, and Trump all campaigned on pulling back from the Middle East. Why did they fail?
For decades, American policymakers have tried to reshape the Middle East—a project that has left U.S. politics polarized, and the region, arguably, less stable.
For nearly 20 years, U.S. presidents have vowed to pull back from the Middle East. But not a single one—not Barack Obama, Donald Trump, or Joe Biden—have come close to succeeding.
Steven A. Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and I look back at the past 30 years of failure—and success—of American intervention in the Middle East through the lens of his latest book, The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East.
They discuss: Why does Washington continue to chase transformational change in the Mid...
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- AIR-CONDITIONING: An American Innovation That Changed Everything
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
The Free Press's Eli Lake: For Breaking History this week, I went down a rabbit hole. It’s August. I live in the swamp of D.C., known not just for its mucky politics but also for its disgustingly humid summers.
As I sit indoors all day, I’ve seen some interesting internet discourse about my beloved air-conditioning. I read a thread on X about the way German elites reject air-conditioning as American wastefulness, to the chagrin of the masses that want to stop sweating. In these very pages, Tyler Cowen sang the praises of American AC, declaring it the mark of civilization versus the European model of allowing vulnerable people to die during heat waves.
This all got me thinking about the history of air-conditioning. How was this technology invented? How did it become ubiquitou...
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- When Does "Healthy" Go Too Far?
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
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- Confessions of a Former Wellness Influencer | Lee Tilghman (LeeFromAmerica)
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/42uFeiT
Lee Tilghman (LeeFromAmerica) talks to The FP's Suzy Weiss about being a trailblazer for today’s social media economy—and the scandal that took it all away.
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- Trump’s Takeover of D.C.: Necessary and Legal—or Authoritarian and Unconstitutional?
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Yesterday, President Trump declared a “public safety emergency” in Washington, D.C., announcing that he would take over the D.C. Metropolitan Police and deploy 800 National Guard troops to crack down on what he describes as an epidemic of crime and homelessness in the city.
“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people. And we’re not going to let it happen anymore—we’re not going to take it,” he said during a news conference. “This is liberation day.”
According to D.C.’s attorney general, Trump’s actions are “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.” And according to the D.C. mayor: "We are not experiencing a crime spike.” Nevertheless, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that the National Guard troops will be on the streets of the capital by the end of the week.
Who is right? Is any of this legal? Is it warranted? ...
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- Why Amanda Knox Forgave the Man Who Sent Her to Prison
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
On November 1, 2007, a man named Rudy Guede broke into a random home in Perugia, Italy, then raped and killed Meredith Kercher—a 21-year-old exchange student from the University of Leeds.
You might not even remember the names Rudy Guede and Meredith Kercher. But one name you will remember is Meredith’s roommate, Amanda Knox, a 20-year-old exchange student from Seattle.
In the weeks and years after Kercher’s murder, the media and the prosecution concocted a narrative that Amanda, her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and Guede had played a violent sex game leading to Kercher’s murder.
Amanda was portrayed as a deviant sex fiend, a slut, a killer, and a psychopath. The problem is that none of it was true. Amanda had only been dating Sollecito a week. She had never met Guede. And most importantly, she was not playing a sex game that led to Kercher’s de...
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- Is Israel About to Occupy Gaza?
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Fox News that Israel intends to retake control of the entire Gaza Strip.
Up until now, Israel has avoided articulating a clear “day after” plan. Even in the Fox interview, the prime minister hedged—insisting that Israel eventually intends to hand over the territory to “Arab forces that will govern it properly.”
But while the details remain murky, the shift in tone is apparent. Israel, which currently controls about 75 percent of Gaza, is about to change the framework that has governed its approach to the strip for two decades.
Naturally, we’re left with more questions than answers: What are the consequences of a reoccupation of Gaza? Is it even possible? Is this just rhetoric, or a turning point in a war that has dragged on for 22 months? How does this impact getting the hostages back?
We’re speaking with Haviv Rettig Gur, The Free Press’s new Middle East analys...
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- What Do Russians Think of the War? Part 2.
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/42uFeiT
As the war rages on in Ukraine, and drone attacks disrupt daily life, The FP's Tanya Lukyanova travels back to her native Russia to once again as the people of Moscow how they feel about it. She expected things to feel tense. Instead, she found people insisting that everything is normal.
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- 'Democrats and AOC No Longer Represent Working People' | Teamsters President Sean O'Brien
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
The question of who represents the working class is probably the hottest debate in American politics. Is it Republicans? Democrats? Or socialists like Zohran Mamdani?
Pundits can debate that question all they want, but the undeniable test is: Who do the unions believe stand for working people?
For a century, unions were undeniably Democratic. And in 2021, Biden tried to carry on that tradition. He went as far as to say: “I intend to be the most pro-union president leading the most pro-union administration in American history.” Then in 2023, he became the first sitting president to walk a picket line, joining United Auto Workers in their strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis.
But as the Democratic Party went left, and then further left, many union members—who were reliable Democratic voters—broke the mold and voted for Trump—nearly ...
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- Haviv Rettig Gur on Gaza Hunger
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- For almost two years, we’ve seen Western media and international organizations falsely report mass starvation in Gaza. But in the past few days it has become apparent that there is a serious and growing hunger crisis in Gaza.
Many questions emerge. How severe is the hunger crisis? Is enough aid going into Gaza? Is this a problem solely at the distribution sites? How might Hamas be using the humanitarian collapse to their advantage?
To break down these questions, Rafaela Siewert is joined by Haviv Rettig Gur, the Free Press Middle East analyst and host of the Ask Haviv Anything podcast.
- Title
- Why won't Trump release the Epstein files?
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
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- New Russiagate Files: Bombshell or Bust? Eli Lake vs. Josh Hammer
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
- Earlier this month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, declassified more than a hundred pages of documents revealing how America’s spies assessed Russian election interference in the final months of the 2016 election. Gabbard says that the new release “clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government.” She has recommended that the Justice Department investigate and prosecute this alleged conspiracy.
Last week, Eli Lake published a piece in The Free Press with his take on the matter: While Russiagate was a real scandal, none of the evidence Gabbard has produced proves her “treasonous conspiracy” accusation.
Today, The Free Press published two more points of view on the new Russiagate revelations, including a piece from Josh Hammer. Josh argues that the documents Gabbard released are, in fact, revelatory and damning for President Obama and his administ...
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- Could the Epstein-blackmail conspiracy be wrong?
- Date posted
- 9 months ago
- Description
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- Jeffrey Epstein and Conspiracy America | Ross Douthat
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
Here’s one fun question to ask at a dinner party: What is your favorite conspiracy theory?
There’s the idea that the CIA killed John F. Kennedy. The moon landing was fake, and 9/11 was an inside job. Covid was designed by the Gates Foundation to control the world—and the Covid vaccine had a microchip. There’s the deep state. Chemtrails. QAnon. The Illuminati. Reptilian overlords. Pizzagate—which says that high-ranking Democrats were running a child sex-trafficking ring out of a D.C. pizzeria.
That one, Pizzagate, is rivaled only by the idea that there is a group of Satan-worshipping globalists and Hollywood celebrities who traffic children in order to harvest adrenochrome, a chemical which, in this scenario, is extracted from their blood. Why? It’s obvious: They inject it in order to stay young.
It’s easy to joke about these theories. It’s...
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- The Druze Massacre—and Why Israel Attacked Syria
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3TlK4t6
Many horrifying scenes unfolded in mid-July, when sectarian violence erupted in Syria’s southern province of Sweida. According to early estimates from human rights groups, more than a thousand people were killed—hundreds of them civilians, including women and children—and tens of thousands displaced in what quickly became one of the deadliest episodes in Syria since the fall of Assad.
This isn’t the first massacre targeting Syrian minorities since Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda member who vowed to unify the country, took the reins of Syria late last year. In March, hundreds of people were slaughtered in the predominantly Alawite coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia. And long-standing tensions between the Druze and neighboring Bedouin tribes in southern Syria have flared for centuries.
But what set this latest round of bloodshed apart was a chilling new...
- Title
- Why Is Everyone Doing Therapy in Public?
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Justin Bieber releases “Therapy Session.” Lorde gets psychoanalyzed by Freud’s great-granddaughter. Paris Hilton goes deep on her ADHD diagnosis.
What’s with all this public therapy—and why can’t we get enough?
Suzy Weiss for The FP. Get her weekly column at TheFP.com.
- Title
- Javier Milei Saves Argentina?
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Under Javier Milei, Argentina’s economy is growing 7% a year—and poverty is falling. The world’s most radical libertarian president might just pull it off, writes Niall Ferguson.
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- Where Democrats Went Wrong
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Title
- How Democrats Lost America's Trust with Rahm Emanuel
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
Rahm Emanuel is giving every indication that he’s running for president in 2028—including by coming on Honestly yesterday.
Emanuel, now 65 years old, has spent decades making a name for himself as one of the Democratic Party’s fiercest and most effective partisans—a true knife fighter, and you’ll see that spiciness in this interview.
But can the dealmaker, the guy so adept at pulling the levers of power behind the scenes, really become the front man? And as the party continues to pull leftward, is there really room for an old-school moderate liberal like Rahm to be the standard-bearer? And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, does he have the bedside manner to be president? Or will people love his blunt nature and find it refreshing?
He spent five years as a top White House aide following Clinton’s victory. Rahm then returned to his native Il...
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- Drone terrorism is coming. America isn’t ready.
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
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- Is Revolution Coming for the Ultra-Rich?
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
Depending on who you ask, some would call the ultrarich “shameless”; others might say “aspirational.” Here’s what I mean: Mukesh Ambani, the Indian centibillionaire, has a room of snow in the Indian tropics—to say nothing of his skyscraper home, 168-car garage, and 600-person-staff. And celebrations for his kids’ weddings featured Rihanna and Beyoncé.
This is nothing new. Aristotle Onassis had whales’ teeth carved into pornographic scenes from The Odyssey, and stools upholstered in whale foreskins which he kept aboard his yacht—because where else would you keep that?
These opulent displays of wealth just scratch the surface. There are blood boys, Basquiats, and bunkers, many of them in New Zealand for the end of the world.
From the Kochs to the Kardashians—most of us cannot look away. But one question remains: Do Americans loathe or ...
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- Dissecting the Coldplay Couple Scandal
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- The most viral video on the internet right now is of an adulterous couple cuddling at a Coldplay concert. America’s reaction has been merciless. It’s proof that, as Kat Rosenfield argued over the weekend, whereas the original function of public shaming was to keep the bonds of community strong, it’s now a spectator sport. Join Kat and Nellie Bowles for a livestream discussion about it today at 2 p.m.
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- The Next 9/11 Could Be a Drone Attack
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/46gAJuj
Drones are the future of war, but an outdated legal framework makes it very hard to protect American citizens from an attack. Austyn Jeffs reports on this rising threat for The Free Press.
- Title
- From Revolution to Theocracy | Iran’s Tragic History
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
Today, Breaking History with Eli Lake dives into the paradox at the heart of modern Iran: How a nation born in revolt, from the tobacco protests of the 1890s to the 1979 Revolution, has time and again empowered autocrats in the name of democracy. This week we trace the cycles of reform and repression that still shape Iran today.
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- The Genius of Lena Dunham
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- “People hate Lena Dunham because they can’t handle the truth.”
Suzy Weiss on the brilliance of Dunham’s new show—and what it reveals about the selfish and over-therapized millennial generation now navigating their 30s.
- Title
- Why Young People Are Voting to Burn It All Down
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
Just two weeks ago, New Yorkers voted en masse for a self-proclaimed socialist—someone who once called for “seizing the means of production.” This is, of course, Zohran Mamdani, who dominated in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor with a definitive victory over Andrew Cuomo.
He has called for rent freezes, free buses, and even government-run grocery stores.
He won 56 percent of the vote in a campaign fueled by young, highly educated, wealthy people—many of whom believe in reviving socialism here in America, in 2025.
According to a Cato Institute poll from May: 62 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 say they hold a “favorable view” of socialism. And 34 percent had a positive view of communism.
Polls by Emerson and Marist from May and June had shown Mamdani leading with voters under 45 by as much as a 2:1 ratio against the...
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- “Genius Is a Right-Wing Idea” with Helen Lewis
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
Love him or hate him, many consider Elon Musk to be a modern-day genius. He co-founded PayPal, which transformed how people purchase things. He became the CEO of Tesla, which revolutionized electric vehicles—and made it cool to drive them. He founded SpaceX, accomplishing what only superpower nation-states have previously. And he is working to make our species interplanetary—maybe in a few years, we’ll be doing this podcast on Mars.
To many, these acts make Elon Musk a genius, perhaps the most important genius in history.
But it’s worth asking: What exactly makes him a genius? Is it a particular set of qualities, or is Elon Musk just particularly adept at playing the role of genius? Or at least what we’ve come to expect of geniuses? Is his offensive behavior excused by his genius, or the result of it? And why do human beings value genius, even to the point of deif...
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- America Has Always Been a Dangerous Idea
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
Last month there was a spate of protests across America united by a two-word slogan: No Kings. This was the rallying cry of the Democrats against the bold prerogatives assumed by President Donald Trump, echoing the Tea Party, the popular movement that emerged in 2009 to hold President Barack Obama to account.
In fact, whether it’s the Black Panthers, the Daughters of the American Revolution, or Arthur Schlesinger Jr. warning about The Imperial Presidency, Americans of all creeds and passions tend to voice their protest of the government in the language of the Declaration of Independence, even in 2025. This is understandable; it’s a remarkable document that marks the official birth of America.
Most national origin stories are about a great man—sometimes with divine authorit...
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- Should People Love America?
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
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- What Makes America Exceptional, with Akhil Amar
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Join the celebration. Go to TheFP.com/America250.
America is turning 250. And we’re throwing a yearlong celebration of the greatest country on Earth. The greatest? Yes. The greatest.
Today—on America’s 249th birthday—we’re kicking off this yearlong event with none other than Akhil Reed Amar. Akhil has a unique understanding of this country—and our Constitution. Akhil is a Democrat who testified on behalf of Brett Kavanaugh, is a member of The Federalist Society, who is pro-choice but also anti-Roe—and these seeming contradictions make him perfectly suited to answer questions about the political and legal polarization we find ourselves in today.
Akhil is a constitutional law professor at Yale and the author of the brilliant book The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760–1840. He also hosts the podcast Amarica's Constitution, and you might recognize his name from his work in The Atlantic. I ask him about t...
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- “The Islamic Republic Will Kill Every One of Us.” Iranian Dissidents Speak Out
- Date posted
- 10 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3TlK4t6
Iran’s brutal regime has arrested hundreds of political opponents—real and imagined—and the worst is likely yet to come.
- Title
- Who Can Defeat Zohran Mamdani?
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- In a shocking upset on Tuesday, Andrew Cuomo lost to 33-year-old Democratic Socialist Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
Mamdani won by roughly 70,000 votes, handing a resounding defeat to the Democratic establishment.
Now, with 130 days until the general election, many questions remain: Will Mamdani win in November? Will New Yorkers rally around Mayor Eric Adams? Will a new candidate enter the race? Is the panic over Mamdani warranted—or overblown? And how should we understand this political moment?
Join us today at 11:30 a.m. ET for a full briefing on the NYC mayoral race. Will Rahn will be joined by Reihan Salam, the president of the Manhattan Institute. He just wrote “Making Sense of Mamdani” for The Free Press.
Have a question? Paid subscribers can get theirs answered in real time at TheFP.com/Livestream.
- Title
- Reaction: NYC Nominates a Socialist for Mayor
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- How did a 33-year-old socialist who wants to institute government-run grocery stores beat the former state governor to win the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City?
It’s an astonishing political story—and one with enormous consequences for New York City and the Democratic Party. Will Andrew Cuomo, who conceded the race late last night, run against Zohran Mamdani as an independent? And, if so, will he split the independent vote with Eric Adams. . . and throw the race to Mamdani?
No one has covered this story like The FP’s Olivia Reingold. Join her and senior editor Will Rahn Wednesday at 11 a.m. as they break down the vote and tell you everything you need to know about the man who might be New York City’s next mayor.
Have a question? Paid subscribers can submit their thoughts to our hosts in real time at TheFP.com/livestream.
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- The Fate of Iran’s Nuclear Program
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Michael Oren, Jay Solomon, and Matti Friedman join Bari for the full briefing.
- Title
- Trump Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Sites | Bari Weiss, Haviv Rettig Gur, Eli Lake, & More
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
Minutes ago Donald Trump announced that the United States had just completed a “very successful attack” on Iran’s three nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
"A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow," referring to Iran's most hard-to-reach uranium enrichment facility,” he added.
This is by far the most important foreign policy decision made by Trump. And its implications are profound and far-reaching. Join me right now to discuss the impacts on the wider Mideast conflict, a potential Iranian response and the effects on U.S. politics.
Our Free Press experts and special guests help explain all of these issues.
- Title
- DEBATE: Should America Get Involved in Iran?
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
It has been one week since Israel began launching strikes on Iran, taking out nuclear installations, scientists, and military sites, as well as much of the top brass of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in their homes.
Iran has responded with hundreds of missile and drone attacks, some of which have evaded Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. For Israel, the aim of the war is the complete elimination of the Iranian nuclear program. But it would like America’s help in that endeavor, particularly with hitting the underground fortress of centrifuge cascades known as Fordow.
On Thursday, the White House announced that President Trump would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to launch a military strike against Iran. As debate within the administration for and against intervention rages, I sat down with Dan Caldwell, a former senior adviser to U...
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- What a Bomb Shelter in Israel Is Like
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- The FP’s Jonas Du was in Jerusalem last week when the bombs began to fall.
- Title
- How Donald Trump Killed Conservative Civility
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
This Week on Breaking History: Buckley, Trump, and the Death of Conservative Civility
Over 40 years ago, William F. Buckley created the intellectual framework for the American conservative movement that fueled the Reagan revolution. But what happened to the Reaganite movement in Trump’s Republican Party? Has it been definitively left behind? On the latest episode of Breaking History, Eli Lake takes a deep dive into the rich life of Buckley, and looks at how today’s conservatives have both supplanted and emulated the movement that Buckley helped to build.
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- Everything You Need to Know About Iran’s Nuclear Program
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
Eli Lake and nuclear weapons expert David Albright discuss the Islamic Republic’s arsenal and whether or not Israel can destroy it on its own.
It’s hard to keep up with the onslaught of information coming out about the Iran war. That is doubly true of the details of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
Israel has claimed that Iran was on the cusp of weaponization and has enough enriched uranium to produce nine bombs or more. Is that true? And if it is, how far has that program been set back? Most urgently, is it possible for Israel to destroy the nuclear weapons program on its own? Or will America have to get involved?
These are the kinds of questions Eli Lake posed to physicist and nuclear weapons expert David Albright when he joined me on a Free Press livestream. No one is more qualified to tackle these issues than David, a former IAEA inspector and fo...
- Title
- Surprise ICE Raids in California
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Officers emerging from unmarked vehicles in California have been conducting surprise raids on undocumented immigrants at car washes, churches, and in front yards.
The community is terrified—and fighting back.
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- Who Will Win the Israel-Iran War? | Niall Ferguson, Bari Weiss, and Dexter Filkins
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
It’s the fourth day in the war between Iran and Israel. Israel’s strikes have taken out almost the entire leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and have damaged—but not destroyed—Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran has retaliated by launching a wave of nearly 300 ballistic missiles at civilian Israeli areas. The barrage from both sides has yet to let up.
We’re left with many questions: Can the West win this war—and dismantle Iran’s nuclear program? Can Israel do it on its own? Will it need direct U.S. support? How is the internal fight inside the White House over American involvement shaping the response? How does this conflict fit into the broader struggle with China and Russia? And more fundamentally, how did we get here?
Bari Weiss sat down with Free Press columnist Niall Ferguson and veteran foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins for an in-...
- Title
- How Trump and Bibi Outfoxed Iran
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
Early Friday morning, as Iranian generals who’d spent years threatening Israel with destruction still slept, Israel launched a surprise attack. Its precision strikes damaged nuclear facilities and killed military officials deep within Iranian territory. Soon after, we heard stories of Mossad agents and Israeli drone bases hidden behind enemy lines.
So how did they do it?
Why did these seasoned Iranian officers—veteran warriors, intelligence chiefs, regime survivors—lower their guard so completely? Did Benjamin Netanyahu read Donald Trump better than the Iranians? How did Israel achieve strategic surprise? And can it achieve lasting victory?
Join Bari Weiss and Michael Doran, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, as they delve into these questions—and take yours.
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- Israel Confronts Evil in Iran | Haviv Rettig Gur and Eli Lake
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SC3Znl
The world woke up today to a changed Middle East. Israel struck key nuclear and military facilities throughout Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed retaliation. And Donald Trump urged Iran to agree to a nuclear deal.
As the dust settles in Tehran, we’re left with many questions. Can Iran mount a major counterattack? Did Israel’s strikes secure its safety? Does this spell the end of the Iranian regime? What actually happened on the ground in Iran? And what role will the U.S. play in the unfolding war?
Eli Lake and Haviv Rettig Gur, one of today’s most insightful Middle East analysts, make sense of all of it—and discuss what could come next.
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- Israel Strikes Iran. What Happens Now?
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SC3Znl
Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear program. What happens now?
Michael Oren joins Bari Weiss to discuss all sides of the issue—from why Israel attacked to the expected length of the campaign to whether the U.S. will get involved.
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- What do regular New Yorkers think of Zohran Mamdani?
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
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- Exclusive: Leader of Anti-Hamas Militia Speaks Out
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SC3Znl
In a dusty corner of southern Gaza, a new anti-Hamas militia has taken control of a small patch of land in eastern Rafah.
They call themselves the Popular Forces, and in a video released last week, they pledged to protect civilians, guard humanitarian convoys, and resist what they describe as “terrorism and looting” by Hamas.
The group’s leader, 34-year-old Yasser Abu Shabab, hails from a large Bedouin clan, straddling Gaza and Egypt, that has helped the Egyptian army fight ISIS in the Sinai. Depending on who you ask, he’s either an opportunistic warlord—or the unlikely face of the first serious attempt at a post-Hamas civil authority.
Western media and think tanks have largely portrayed Abu Shabab as a traitor and a gangster with alleged links to ISIS and a history of looting humanitarian aid—while also acknowledging his group’s “growing...
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- Iran Wants to Destroy the U.S. - Mike Huckabee
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- U.S.ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee rejects the isolationists’ take on Iran: “Are they deaf, dumb, and blind?” https://thefp.pub/4jLHfMG
- Title
- Will Socialists Take Over NYC? How Zohran Mamdani Could Win
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Zohran Mamdani—a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America—could actually become mayor of New York City. https://thefp.pub/45firck
- Title
- It's Not a Genocide.
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- Calling what is happening in Gaza a “genocide” is “recklessly irresponsible—and it is factually, off the charts, untrue,” says U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Full episode: https://thefp.pub/3HPPsC2
- Title
- LA Riots Continue As Police Escalate Response
- Date posted
- 11 months ago
- Description
- It is day 4 of the LA anti-ICE riots, and law enforcement has significantly escalated its response.
“Today was the first day I started seeing real blood. Protesters have been shot with rubber bullets. I’ve been tear-gassed multiple times—it burns the skin on your face.”
