By The Free Press | Created at 2024-10-29 18:31:13 | Updated at 2024-11-06 03:33:23
1 week ago
It’s Tuesday, October 29. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: Democrats play dirty in Puerto Rico; how to help obese kids; Tim Walz’s ex-lover says he’s “very romantic”; but first, Bari Weiss moderates a debate between Ben Shapiro and Sam Harris about who should be our next president.
It’s exactly one week until Election Day and people are having a normal one. MSNBC, for their part, helpfully situated Sunday’s Trump rally at Madison Square Garden by cutting to historic footage of an actual Nazi rally held in the same venue in 1939.
Who knows what the next six days will have in store.
As for The Free Press? Bari sat down to moderate a debate with two of the most important voices on the American political scene—Sam Harris and Ben Shapiro—over a simple question: Harris or Trump?
Ben Shapiro, the conservative commentator behind The Daily Wire, says the American political system is “a strainer” of checks and balances. What goes into the strainer are the ingredients “the candidate brings to the table,” he says—and what came out of Trump’s first term “was a solid economy” and “the best foreign policy of my lifetime.”
Sam Harris, neuroscientist and host of the podcast Making Sense, says he is voting for Kamala Harris primarily because she’s not Donald Trump. Sam says he would “vote for almost anyone over Trump,” who “loves dictators or quasi-dictators” and “seems to revile the people who he really should view as allies and colleagues.”
For those looking for Hitler comparisons or tasteless jokes about Puerto Rico, look elsewhere. But for those looking for the definitive debate on this election, click the play button below to listen—or catch it on the Honestly feed wherever you get your podcasts. Or click here if you prefer to read an edited transcript of the conversation.
Watch Election Night with The Free Press
Whether or not you’re excited to vote, concerned about the future of U.S. democracy, or desperate for the election from hell to be over, The Free Press will be there to entertain and inform you on election night. We’ll cover what is sure to be a long, strange night from a loft in lower Manhattan. Bari Weiss, Michael Moynihan, and Batya Ungar-Sargon will host an incredible lineup of politicians, pollsters, and commentators—as well as voters on the ground in swing states—to bring you real-time updates and in-depth analysis as the results come in.
So switch off Fox or MSNBC and tune in to The Free Press’s live election coverage on November 5, starting at 7 p.m. ET. Throw a party, grab some friends, and watch history unfold with us. (I’m told that there will be drinking games.)
We’ll livestream on YouTube—click this link and select “notify me” to receive a reminder once we’re live—as well as on X. See you there!
How the Democrats Rigged the Vote in Puerto Rico
There’s a lot of attention—and rightfully so—on election integrity. The left says Trump ought to be disqualified as a candidate for threatening to prosecute his political rivals. The right says the Democrats have rigged the game, not least by allowing mass illegal migration. (ICYMI: Read Peter Savodnik’s deep dive into claims that Democrats are exploiting a loose border policy to turn American blue, “Is There Really a Plot to Use Migrants to Turn America Blue?”)
But one story about election rigging that has gone almost totally unnoticed is what is happening this election day in Puerto Rico.
That’s the story our Coleman Hughes has today. He says that Democrats have engineered a referendum which all but guarantees a vote for Puerto Rican statehood.
Coleman says Democrats are attempting to “brazenly rig a referendum in Puerto Rico for the most self-interested of reasons.” He continues, “The Dems will get what they want—an apparent mandate for eventual Puerto Rican statehood—and most Americans won’t know that this was achieved by cheating.” Read Coleman Hughes on how the Democrats are playing dirty in Puerto Rico.
Diets Are Bad. Ignoring Childhood Obesity Is Even Worse.
Nearly 20 percent of American children between ages 10 and 17 are obese. The question is what should be done about this public-health crisis.
Robert J. Davis is a health journalist who grew up overweight. He remembers being fat-shamed—and thinks it is both cruel and unhelpful. But he also argues that today’s “body positive” activists who encourage parents to look away and say nothing are inflicting even greater damage on their kids.
Read Robert Davis’s article—Diets Are Bad. Ignoring Childhood Obesity Is Even Worse—and catch him in our parenting podcast series, Raising Parents with Emily Oster right here:
The latest ABC News/Ipsos poll gives Kamala Harris (51 percent) a four-point lead over Donald Trump (47 percent), with voters saying that the economy, inflation, protecting American democracy, and looking out for the middle class are their top issues. According to Nate Silver’s polling average, Trump is ahead by a whisker in the battleground states. Meanwhile, a question you almost certainly haven’t asked: Why are there so few polls this time around? Apparently there are. Recommended reading: Alec MacGillis on the small Midwestern towns that could decide the elections.
Hundreds of early ballots cast in Washington State and Oregon have been destroyed in two arson attacks. Police believe the fires are connected and began in the early hours on Monday after explosive devices were deposited in ballot boxes.
On Monday, Philadelphia’s district attorney announced he’s suing Elon Musk over his $1 million cash prizes for randomly chosen swing state voters who sign a petition supporting the Constitution before Election Day. The Democratic DA’s office said on its website their concern is to protect the public from “illegal lotteries” and “interference with the integrity of elections.” A reporter emailed Musk’s spokesperson to ask for comment and whether the prizes would continue. The response was a link to the latest winner holding a giant check. That’s what we call “fuck you” money.
Speaking of which, the number of subscribers who have renounced The Washington Post and taken their money elsewhere after the paper declined to endorse a presidential candidate has now hit 200,000, according to NPR reporter David Folkenflik. That’s about 8 percent of the paper’s paid circulation.
But then WaPo’s proprietor Jeff Bezos, who blocked the paper’s plans to endorse Kamala Harris, has plenty of fuck you money himself. He responded to the backlash Monday with an op-ed: “The Hard Truth: Americans Don’t Trust the News Media.”
In another pitch to male voters, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) played the Madden video game together on Twitch, a livestreaming platform. “Sundays are for football! Game on, AOC,” Coach Walz wrote on X. The two discussed abolishing the filibuster, protecting Social Security, and defeating Donald Trump. The game was abandoned at halftime, with a final score of 0–0. And then, to make matters worse, “Coach Walz” posted on X “AOC can run a mean pick 6.” Which is something no one who knows anything about football would ever say, apparently. Great job, everybody.
It’s a busy news day for anyone on the Walz beat. The Daily Mail reports that he had a fling with Jenna Wang, the daughter of a high-ranking Communist official, while he was teaching in China in 1989. “The lovers could not risk holding hands or showing affection in public,” because her father would “disown her for fraternizing with a Westerner,” reports Ben Ashford. “But their romance blossomed behind closed doors as they sipped tea, made love, and listened to George Michael hits.” Wang, now 59, tells the paper: “Tim was very passionate and very romantic. I can still remember dancing with him to our favorite song, ‘Careless Whisper.’ ”
Every quarter century or so, the Catholic Church has a “Jubilee Year” in which its members make pilgrimages, renew their spiritual lives, and do good works. The theme for 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope” and to get into the spirit of things, the Vatican has unveiled its very own anime-style mascot. No, it’s not one of the church’s many saints or prophets. It’s a blue-haired, seemingly gender-neutral character named “Luce” (Italian for light), with massive eyes, a yellow hooded cloak, and muddy shoes. Archbishop Rino Fisichella described the cartoon as a way to engage with “the pop culture so beloved by our young people.” Which is cute, but also weird when you’re trying to represent the most countercultural institution on Earth.
Madeleine Kearns is an associate editor for The Free Press. Follow her on X @madeleinekearns.
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