The Free Press
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It’s Wednesday, January 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: why there’s even more at stake in today’s artificial intelligence race than the ’60s space race. San Francisco might be getting tougher on drugs. Google puts a Trump decree on the map, and more.
But first: The dangers of Trumpian tunnel vision.
President Donald Trump wasted no time deporting illegal immigrants—and woe to anyone who gets in his way. Just ask Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, who tried to stop U.S. “military planes” from returning Colombian migrants. Trump threatened tariffs and sanctions; the next day, Petro had not only backed down, but was retweeting Trump’s press secretary.
Whether it’s stopping illegal immigration, defeating the drug cartels, or renaming the Gulf of Mexico, the president’s foreign policy priorities lie in this country’s near-abroad. Trump has framed this focus as a restoration of the Monroe Doctrine, but a pivot away from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East carries risks, if it means U.S. retreat elsewhere.
By their own admission, the world’s dictators have no intention of keeping to their own corners of the world or sharing a “balance of power” with the United States, writes Matt Pottinger, the president’s former deputy national security adviser.
In his first term, argues Pottinger, Trump “wisely resisted the temptation to limit himself to one sphere of influence,” and needs to do the same in his second. “The truth is that the U.S. must retain the capability, and resolve, to influence events in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East—because they affect the livelihoods of ordinary Americans.” And isn’t that what “America First” was supposed to be all about?
Read Pottinger’s piece, “Memo to Trump: Beware the ‘Reverse Teddy.’ ”
Why DeepSeek Is a Gift to the American People
When the USSR launched Sputnik, a 184-pound satellite, into Earth’s orbit in October 1957—it spurred a massive U.S. effort to promote technology. Not only did we win the space race, landing men on the moon in 1969, America enjoyed decades of across-the-board dominance in science and engineering.
Is the release of DeepSeek—a low cost, high performing, Chinese-owned AI model—a new Sputnik moment? Actually, it’s even more significant, writes Alex Rampell.
Soon, AI is “going to be inside everything, the basis for all software and systems of interaction between machine and human,” writes Rampell. “The space race operated at the intersection of national pride and national defense; the AI race is about so much more—and progressing at breakneck speed.”
Read Rampell’s piece on how China’s AI breakthrough has exposed our own policy failures—and not a moment too soon, “Why DeepSeek is a Gift to the American People.”
WATCH: Have San Francisco’s ‘Harm Reduction’ Tactics Worked?
Since the arrival of fentanyl in the 2010s, San Francisco has seen record overdoses. But now some think the city’s “harm reduction” tactics, such as handing out clean needles and “nonjudgmental” drop-in services, need to be reduced—to zero. At least one politician is calling for “mass arrests” of drug users, so they can be steered into treatment.
Ben Kawaller went to San Francisco’s Sixth Street, at the heart of the city’s open-air drug scene, and asked police, community activists, addicts, and residents for their thoughts—as overdoses appeared to take place right in front of them.
Watch Ben talking to cops and drug users here.
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On Monday, Trump signed an executive order barring transgender individuals from serving in the military, on the grounds that “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards required for military services.” The order reverses Biden-era policy and mandates that the Department of Defense “end invented and identification-based pronoun usage” and prohibit men from using women’s quarters on military property. (For an exclusive interview with Pete Hegseth on how he plans to rid the military of diversity, equity, and inclusion, read Madeleine Rowley’s piece, “What Happened When DEI Came to the Military?”). Relatedly, on Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” which blocks federal funding for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender surgeries for minors.
Yesterday, Trump paused all federal grants and loans pending a review to align spending with his priorities. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt assured Americans that payments like food stamps, welfare, Medicare, and Social Security would not be affected. Leavitt added that the Biden administration spent $50 million on condoms for Gaza, which Hamas terrorists reportedly used to create improvised explosive device-carrying balloons. Other controversial authorized purchases include $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia, according to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast.
Google Maps will honor Trump’s new “Gulf of America” moniker for the body of water otherwise known as the Gulf of Mexico. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum reacted with amusement: “He says that he will call it the Gulf of America,” Sheinbaum said. “For us, it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico.” Enjoy it while it lasts, Señora Presidenta. A geographical vibe shift is coming to the, uh, Caribbean Basin.
Coming soon to an airport near you: the next Concorde. A Boom Supersonic test flight of what promises to be the world’s fastest commercial airliner broke the sound barrier for the first time yesterday, travelling at 750 miles per hour. It’s been more than 21 years since the Concorde retired and civilian supersonic air travel ended, but Boom now plans to bring it back by 2030.
Whew! Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said mysterious drones “that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] for research and various other reasons.” Leavitt didn’t offer details, or explain why the previous administration withheld this information, but insisted the drones were “not the enemy.” They proliferated “due to curiosity” and private citizens and hobbyists joining in. For more on the various drone theories, and how they stack up, read my previous reporting for The Free Press.
Just days ago, Trump pardoned Matthew Huttle, 42, of Indiana, for his involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot. But on Sunday, police shot and killed Huttle during an alleged “altercation” after they pulled over his vehicle. Indiana State Police said the officer who shot Huttle is on paid administrative leave, and they are investigating the death. Huttle entered the Capitol for 10 minutes on January 6, 2021 and agreed to a plea deal that resulted in a six-month prison sentence.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will face questioning from the Senate beginning today at 10 a.m., in one of the most highly anticipated confirmation hearings of the second Trump administration. His nomination is supported by an unconventional coalition of nutritionists, moms, shamans, and longevity experts. ICYMI: This week on Honestly, Bari Weiss explores the rise of the Make America Healthy Again movement with Calley Means, Jillian Michaels, and Vani Hari.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
“President Donald Trump wasted no time deporting illegal immigrants—and woe to anyone who gets in his way.”
Thank you, President Trump for doing what has to be done. It sucks, but it has to be done.
I wonder how many angel families are saying thank you, too. We now have countless angel families who have suffered the loss or harm of a loved one committed by an illegal alien for decades now– aliens who should never have been here in the first place. Maybe I missed the article on angel families?
Illegal aliens are criminals because they broke the law - 8 U.S. Code § 1325 - when entering America. That is not a good way to begin a path to citizenship by breaking America’s immigration laws and there are ways to citizenship – just ask all of the many legal immigrants who came here legally.
"Have San Francisco’s ‘Harm Reduction’ Tactics Worked?"
Who knew that free needles and “nonjudgmental” drop-in services wouldn't work?
Oh yeah. every MAGA supporter I've known.
Who believed "Harm Reduction" policies were brilliant?
Oh yeah, every Biden/Harris supporter I've known.
The reason I went from despising Trump in 2016...
To tolerating him in 2020...
To enthusiastically supporting him in 2024...
Is because it kinda seemed like COMMON Sense to stop believing in the nonsense the Democrat Party insisted I believe in.