The Free Press
It’s Tuesday, April 22. 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: Is it time to buy gold? A former Fox News host’s bid to lead California. Tyler Cowen on why we need elites. And more.
But first: Join us this afternoon to talk about Trump and the law.
Yesterday, we convened seven of the country’s sharpest legal minds from across the political spectrum to weigh in on one question: Is the Trump administration acting lawlessly?
Despite the group’s ideological diversity, there was a striking consensus: The lawyers, scholars, and judges we spoke to all agreed that the president’s maneuvers—everything from targeting “anti-Trump” law firms to attempting to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status—violate statutory and constitutional limits.
Many readers had a strong reaction to the piece, so today we’re keeping the conversation going with a special, subscriber-only livestream.
Helping us make sense of Trump’s legal strategy are law professors Lawrence Lessig and Jonathan Adler as well as The Free Press’s very own constitutional law expert, Jed Rubenfeld. We’re going live at 3:00 p.m. ET at TheFP.com. Head to our site and look out for the livestream notice at the top of the homepage. This event is open to all paid subscribers of The Free Press. If you aren’t yet a paid subscriber, click the button below to sign up.
Montgomery County Parents Go to SCOTUS
The biggest legal flashpoint in the ongoing battle over parents’ efforts to gain more control over what their children are taught in public schools is taking place today at the Supreme Court.
The case involves parents of children who attended Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, and who sued after the school refused to allow their children to opt out of classes they felt violated their parental and religious rights. The curriculum included books with names like Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope—which caused one parent to say, “They’re trying to replace our values.” In 2023, a district court ruled that a parent’s right to opt out of a curriculum was “not a fundamental right.”
“Under the paradigm the school board created, Fifty Shades of Grey could become mandatory reading in Montgomery County schools—or anywhere else across the country, for that matter,” writes Bethany Mandel. Today, Bethany takes us inside the case that’s seen Latter-day Saints, Muslims, Catholics, and others unite against a progressive school board many feel has gone too far.
Read: “Parents to SCOTUS: Don’t Force Our Kids to Read Books on Sexuality.”
Trans Comments Destroyed His Career. Now It’s Payday.
In 2017, Allan Josephson, chair of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Louisville, appeared on a panel hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation and criticized fellow child psychiatrists who were rushing to “affirm” children with gender dysphoria and providing them with transgender hormones and surgeries.
It wrecked his career. He was demoted and, in 2019, fired. Now he’s just won a massive $1.6 million settlement.
Reporter Josh Code has the details, exclusively for The Free Press.
Read: “EXCLUSIVE: Doctor Fired for Trans Surgery Comments Receives $1.6 Million Settlement.”
Will Tariffs Destroy Global MAGA?
On Monday, Vice President J.D. Vance met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to discuss the potential fast-tracking of a bilateral trade agreement amid worldwide trade tensions caused by Trump’s new tariff regime. Without the deal, India—like most other countries—will face massive tariffs on goods it exports to the U.S. when the president’s 90-day pause ends on July 9.
Modi is only the latest national populist who expects to land a quick deal with Trump—Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu have done the same—yet so far they’ve gone away empty-handed. Matthew Continetti writes today that for years, Trump has spearheaded a global right-wing movement based around hawkish immigration policy, national sovereignty, and social conservatism. Could tariffs undo it all?
Read Matt’s latest: “Will Trump’s Tariffs Destroy Populism Overseas?”
Steve Hilton: It’s Now or Never for California. That’s Why I’m Running for Governor.
The former Fox News host thinks he’s the best shot Republicans have had in 20 years. Read his full interview with Batya Ungar-Sargon.
James Grant: The Case for Buying Gold
Amid a shaky stock market and a declining U.S. dollar, one asset has continued to climb ever higher: gold. The shiny commodity reached an all-time high on Monday, and today, James Grant—founder and editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer—makes his case for buying in. Read it here.
Our Elites Don’t Deserve This Much Hatred
“The elites” don’t exactly have a large fan base, but Tyler Cowen says genuine intellectual elitism is based in science, open-ended inquiry, and truth-seeking behavior. And he thinks we need more of it. Read his full essay here.
Over the past several weeks, Bari has done two episodes on religion—one asking, “Do we need a religious revival?” and then a follow-up conversation with Ross Douthat asking how people who grew up in the secular West can actually find faith.
Today, we have the last installment of this intellectual and religious inquiry—and a new question: What is the role of religion as a political force in this country?
Bari’s guest today, Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says: “Christianity is a load-bearing wall of American civic life.”
It’s not exactly the response you’d expect to hear from a gay Jewish atheist, but it’s the premise of his new book, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy. Jonathan doesn’t just say we need to embrace Christianity; he goes a step further. He says that Christians need to look in the mirror and reconsider how Jesus would approach American politics today.
Join Bari as she and Jonathan discuss the religious and political forces that have shaped our present moment, such as MAGA, the evangelical movement, their marriage to President Donald Trump, the rise of Christian nationalism, and more.
Listen to Rauch’s discussion with Bari below. Click here to watch the video version and read an edited transcript, and follow Honestly on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Embattled defense secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly sent details about drone strikes in Yemen to a 13-person group chat that included his wife and brother. Hegseth denied wrongdoing and blamed the story on “disgruntled former employees.” The news comes a month after National Security Adviser Mike Walz reportedly added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat that also discussed the Yemen strikes. A report from NPR yesterday said that the White House was looking for Hegseth’s replacement, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the claim on X, saying the president “stands strongly” behind the defense secretary.
Yesterday, the Vatican revealed that Pope Francis died of a stroke that led to a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse. Later that day, President Trump, flanked by the Easter Bunny, announced that flags would be flown at half-staff out of respect for the late pontiff, who he called “a good man” who “loved the world.” Read Francis X. Rocca’s appreciation of Pope Francis in The Free Press.
The multinational logistics brand DHL Express has temporarily suspended any delivery to the U.S. worth more than $800 due to what it calls a “significant increase” in red tape at customs following the introduction of Trump’s new tariff regime.
Four more Democratic lawmakers have traveled to El Salvador to demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to the country earlier this year. They plan to meet with officials at the U.S. embassy in El Salvador to advocate for Abrego Garcia and gather information on other detainees deported to the country. This comes a week after Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) met with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador at a location he says was a “setup” by the Bukele government that involved Salvadoran officials placing “fake margaritas” on the table in order to stage a photo op.
The Dow dropped nearly 1,000 points yesterday amid Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump has repeatedly, and publicly, pressured Powell to lower interest rates—and has even hinted that he might try to find a legal way to fire the Chair, raising concerns about the central bank’s independence.
The Justice Department yesterday asked a federal district judge in D.C. to force Google to sell its popular Chrome web browser, saying it was the only way to break the company’s monopoly on online search.
$1.6 Million is NOT massive.
“Four more Democratic lawmakers have traveled to El Salvador to demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garci…”
Hope their constituents voted for this.