Will New York Elect a Champagne Socialist? Plus. . .

It’s Tuesday, April 15. 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: What’s our policy on Iran? In Trump’s America, it’s hard to know. Also, why did Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’s fiancée go to space?

But first: Meet the champagne socialist fighting to take Gracie Mansion.

Will New Yorkers elect a rich kid who says he’ll set up government grocery stores and arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he ever sets foot in NYC? It’s more likely than you think.

While New York mayor and beleaguered Turkish Airlines fan Eric Adams announced earlier this month he’ll be running as an independent in November’s election, the race for the Democratic nomination is wide open.

Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as New York governor in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal that birthed the infamous Fox News chyron “Cuomo: I’m not perverted, I’m just Italian,” is currently in the lead with 39 percent. But rising in the polls behind him is another interesting figure—one who could be a household name across America in a few months’ time.

Today in The Free Press, our own Olivia Reingold introduces readers to Zohran Mamdani, the socialist coming for the Big Apple. Think AOC, if she were a former rapper with wealthy, Wikipedia page–having parents, an arsenal of fake accents, and a fixation on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Read: “A Young Socialist Wants to Run NYC. Could He Win?”

“In Trump’s America, the Guessing Game Never Ends”

What is our policy toward Iran? Are the tariffs on or off? If they’re on—what countries are they on? And are they permanent? What’s actually going on? As a newsletter writer, it is my job to know these things, and yet when I walked to work this morning I saw a little French Bulldog peeing on the sidewalk, and I looked in his bulging bug eyes and figured he could predict the Trump administration’s next moves as well as I could.

And maybe he could. Today in our pages, Matthew Continetti says that I—like a lot of people—am thinking about the Trump administration the wrong way. Why? Because, according to Matt, we’re “looking for conceptual frameworks and policy Svengalis. None exist. In Trump’s White House, strategy documents are suggestions. Personnel is not policy. Trump is the policy.”

Read Matthew Continetti: “Trump Is the Policy.”

Why Does Trump’s Iran Policy Look Like Obama’s?

Over the weekend, just before Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iranian leaders in Oman, he told The Wall Street Journal that the goal was to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, but that the “red line” is that the country can’t have nuclear weapons.

That may sound unremarkable enough. But as Eli Lake argues today, it represents a sea change in Trump’s Iran policy. And he thinks it’s an ominous sign when it comes to the kind of deal we might be about to strike with Tehran.

To understand why, read the full story: “Trump’s Iran Nuclear Deal Looks a Lot Like Obama’s.”

One Small Trip for Woman, One Giant Leap for Womankind

Yesterday morning, Jeff Bezos shot Lauren Sánchez, his fiancée; Katy Perry; Oprah’s best friend; and some other ladies into outer space. They cried. They wore very tight pants. They howled at the moon. In other words, writes Suzy Weiss, it was basically a cosmic bachelorette party. “The concept was to look good, have a great time, and do a lot of screaming,” writes Suzy. “And honestly? Mission accomplished.”

Read Suzy: “Lauren Sánchez’s Cosmic Bachelorette Party.”

President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador president Nayib Bukele in the White House Oval Office on April 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee via Getty Images)

• Cody Balmer, the 38-year-old who was arrested after allegedly setting fire to Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s house, is being charged with terrorism. The Harrisburg mechanic reportedly admitted to “harboring hatred toward Governor Shapiro.” He frequently posted anti-government memes on social media and has a history of arrests for forgery and assault. Balmer’s mother told CBS her son is “mentally ill” and “went off his medication.” Read Senator Dave McCormick: “The Attack on Gov. Shapiro Was an Assault on Democracy.”

• Yesterday, President Trump met with El Salvador president Nayib Bukele in the White House. Amid controversy about the Central American country taking in the U.S.’s deportees, its leader claimed Trump has “350 million people to liberate.” Bukele also said that he would not facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was mistakenly deported by the United States to a Salvadoran megaprison, and called him a “terrorist.” Later in the day, Trump said he had charged Attorney General Pam Bondi with finding a way to exile American criminals to prisons in El Salvador, a proposal legal experts have called “pretty obviously illegal.”

• On Monday, Hungary’s parliament passed a constitutional amendment that recognizes two sexes, male and female. It also allows the government to use facial recognition technology to identify participants at illegal events—like Budapest Pride, which was banned last month—and prohibits “the depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors under the age of 18. For what it’s worth, Viktor Orbán, I can tell you from experience that seeing gay people on TV doesn’t make you a homosexual. Only Britney Spears’ early discography can do that!

• Late last week, an Idaho state court judge appeared to slightly loosen abortion restrictions. Now, the state does not require a pregnant woman to face “impending” death in order to receive the procedure. The judge ruled that abortions are allowed if a doctor determines that a pregnant woman is likely to die sooner if she doesn’t have an abortion, even if her death is not “imminent or assured.”

• Harvard University has rejected demands from the Trump administration to eliminate its DEI programs, screen international students for evidence of antisemitism, and ensure “viewpoint diversity” in its hiring practices, among other requirements from the White House. At stake is around $9 billion in federal funding. The administration has already hit back, freezing $2.2 billion in multiyear federal grants.

• Former Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz is facing criticism online after apparently defending Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in midtown Manhattan. On CNN Sunday, Lorenz said Mangione seems like “a morally good man, which is hard to find.” On X, Ms. Lorenz said her words were misconstrued, writing: “When you read the full quote you see that I’m actually saying *his supporters* view him as a ‘morally good man,’ not that I see him that way (we don’t actually know his motivations/morals bc he hasn’t spoken yet).” Somehow, Let’s hear him out seems like an even crazier position than just defending him. What explanations is she willing to accept?