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It’s Thursday, April 9. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Niall Ferguson on Iran’s skewed definition of victory. Frannie Block speaks to former astronauts about a potentially fatal flaw in the spacecraft that’s just made history. Yascha Mounk on the trouble with college grades. And much more.
But first: Olivia Reingold reports on the Senate race in Michigan that’s become a referendum on Israel and the Middle East.
September 11 isn’t usually a litmus test in American politics. For nearly 25 years, there’s been one perspective we expect leaders in both parties to take toward the attacks: They were acts of savagery, planned and carried out by al-Qaeda, motivated by fundamentalist hatred of the United States.
But one candidate’s remarks this week may mark a new era. Abdul El-Sayed is running for Senate in Michigan, and on Tuesday he held two major rallies with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker—one of the most influential figures on the young left today. Piker declared in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11,” and he gained fame in recent years by accusing Israel and the U.S. of a genocide in Gaza. Yet when a reporter asked El-Sayed about Piker’s views, he refused to disavow them—any of them. “This whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture,” he said. “I thought we were over it.”
Our Olivia Reingold attended one of those rallies, and today she explains why El-Sayed’s comments aren’t a fluke. He speaks for a movement comprising young leftists and Muslim immigrants—two fast-growing constituencies making their mark across American politics. He’s running a campaign unlike any Senate candidate before him—refusing to condemn Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and suggesting that Israel provoked an attack on a U.S. synagogue last month. Read what Olivia asked El-Sayed—and her conversations with the voters who are driving his surge.
—Mene Ukueberuwa
War and Peace in IranMORE FROM THE FREE PRESSTHE NEWSWisconsin Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, backed by Democrats, celebrates winning a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat in Madison on April 7, 2026. (Joe Timmerman via Getty Images)Voters in Port Washington, Wisconsin, approved the nation’s first anti–data center referendum by a 2-to-1 margin, requiring voter approval before city leaders can grant tax incentives to any future projects—though it won’t stop an existing $15 billion OpenAI-Oracle “Stargate” facility already underway.
A new poll found 48 percent of New Yorkers approve of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s performance as he nears his 100th day in office, with 56 percent saying the city is headed in the right direction. However, at this point in his term, Mamdani’s predecessor Eric Adams had a 61 percent approval rating.
Democrats overperformed in elections this week, winning Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race by nearly 20 points, and cutting their margin of defeat by nearly two-thirds in one of Georgia’s reddest House districts. One former GOP strategist called it “a wow moment”—though many Republicans brushed off the losses as a product of low spring turnout.
Hawaii is bracing for another round of heavy rain and potential flash flooding from a severe Kona low storm Wednesday through Friday, just weeks after March storms caused damage expected to top $1 billion. “This comes at a time when many of our communities are still working to recover,” said Honolulu mayor Rick Blangiardi.
The encrypted messaging app Telegram appears to have a problem with what’s known as “nonconsensual distribution of intimate images.” Researchers at AI Forensics found nearly 25,000 users trading tens of thousands of such images of women—some real, some AI-generated deepfakes, and some depicting minors—across 16 Telegram channels over a six-week study. The group criticized Telegram’s moderation as “insufficient.”
Kristi Noem’s controversial $70 million luxury Boeing jet—originally purchased by ICE for deportations, and featuring a bedroom, shower, and marble bar—will now be available for First Lady Melania Trump and other cabinet members to use, per The Wall Street Journal.
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By Bari WeissIt’s Thursday, April 9. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Niall Ferguson on Iran’s skewed definition of victory. Frannie Block speaks to former astronauts about a potentially fatal flaw in the spacecraft that’s just made history. Yascha Mounk on the trouble with college grades. And much more.
But first: Olivia Reingold reports on the Senate race in Michigan that’s become a referendum on Israel and the Middle East.
September 11 isn’t usually a litmus test in American politics. For nearly 25 years, there’s been one perspective we expect leaders in both parties to take toward the attacks: They were acts of savagery, planned and carried out by al-Qaeda, motivated by fundamentalist hatred of the United States.
But one candidate’s remarks this week may mark a new era. Abdul El-Sayed is running for Senate in Michigan, and on Tuesday he held two major rallies with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker—one of the most influential figures on the young left today. Piker declared in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11,” and he gained fame in recent years by accusing Israel and the U.S. of a genocide in Gaza. Yet when a reporter asked El-Sayed about Piker’s views, he refused to disavow them—any of them. “This whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture,” he said. “I thought we were over it.”
Our Olivia Reingold attended one of those rallies, and today she explains why El-Sayed’s comments aren’t a fluke. He speaks for a movement comprising young leftists and Muslim immigrants—two fast-growing constituencies making their mark across American politics. He’s running a campaign unlike any Senate candidate before him—refusing to condemn Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and suggesting that Israel provoked an attack on a U.S. synagogue last month. Read what Olivia asked El-Sayed—and her conversations with the voters who are driving his surge.
—Mene Ukueberuwa
War and Peace in IranMORE FROM THE FREE PRESSTHE NEWSWisconsin Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, backed by Democrats, celebrates winning a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat in Madison on April 7, 2026. (Joe Timmerman via Getty Images)Voters in Port Washington, Wisconsin, approved the nation’s first anti–data center referendum by a 2-to-1 margin, requiring voter approval before city leaders can grant tax incentives to any future projects—though it won’t stop an existing $15 billion OpenAI-Oracle “Stargate” facility already underway.
A new poll found 48 percent of New Yorkers approve of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s performance as he nears his 100th day in office, with 56 percent saying the city is headed in the right direction. However, at this point in his term, Mamdani’s predecessor Eric Adams had a 61 percent approval rating.
Democrats overperformed in elections this week, winning Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race by nearly 20 points, and cutting their margin of defeat by nearly two-thirds in one of Georgia’s reddest House districts. One former GOP strategist called it “a wow moment”—though many Republicans brushed off the losses as a product of low spring turnout.
Hawaii is bracing for another round of heavy rain and potential flash flooding from a severe Kona low storm Wednesday through Friday, just weeks after March storms caused damage expected to top $1 billion. “This comes at a time when many of our communities are still working to recover,” said Honolulu mayor Rick Blangiardi.
The encrypted messaging app Telegram appears to have a problem with what’s known as “nonconsensual distribution of intimate images.” Researchers at AI Forensics found nearly 25,000 users trading tens of thousands of such images of women—some real, some AI-generated deepfakes, and some depicting minors—across 16 Telegram channels over a six-week study. The group criticized Telegram’s moderation as “insufficient.”
Kristi Noem’s controversial $70 million luxury Boeing jet—originally purchased by ICE for deportations, and featuring a bedroom, shower, and marble bar—will now be available for First Lady Melania Trump and other cabinet members to use, per The Wall Street Journal.