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| By The Free Press |
It’s Monday, November 24. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: What Ukrainians think of Trump’s peace plan. The 14-year-old running for governor. Jed Rubenfeld says: No, Mr. President, Democrats aren’t committing sedition. An ominous statement from Zohran Mamdani. And much more.
But first: The latest installment of our “America at 250” series.
Immigration is arguably the defining issue of our age. Its social, economic, and cultural effects are vast—and the subject of some of our most bitter debates. The discontent it has generated has powered political revolutions across the West, including Donald Trump’s improbable rise (and stunning return). Now, with Trump’s administration aiming to deport a million people a year, immigration is becoming the most contentious issue of his second term.
Immigration is also something that goes to the heart of American identity. We are, as the cliché has it, “a nation of immigrants,” and home to more immigrants than any other country. From the Mayflower on, waves of new arrivals have defined what it means to be American, while the Statue of Liberty urges us to “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Lofty principles are one thing; the messy reality, with all its moral dilemmas and painful trade-offs, is another. We’ve reported a lot on that reality here at The Free Press, from the tragic consequences of Biden’s extremely lax border policy to how Trump’s crackdown has upended the daily lives of migrants across the country.
This week, for the latest chapter of our yearlong America at 250 project (read all about that here), we’re building on that reporting and going deeper on immigration. Today, we start with the politics of it. We’re bringing you two of the sharpest minds we know—with different views of the issue—on the question of how immigration came to dominate our politics.
Tyler Cowen supports immigration, but he argues that too many of those he agrees with fail to see the quandary at the heart of the issue. Tyler says it explains why immigration restrictions have to “become more oppressive and more unpleasant as time passes” and turn the liberals into illiberals. Read his essay to understand why “humane” immigration policy ends in cruelty.
For two periods in American history, the country more or less halted the influx of migrants. Now, we are in the middle of what Christopher Caldwell calls the “third great slamming of the Golden Door.” For many Americans, this is a source of national shame, and a sign the country is “turning away from its good ‘welcoming’ side and toward its low-class ‘xenophobic’ side.” That’s not the case, argues Christopher. Read his essay to learn why.
—The Editors
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What Ukrainians Think About Trump’s Peace Plan | ||||||
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Meet the 14-Year-Old Running for Governor of Vermont | ||||||
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An Ominous Sign for New York’s Jews | ||||||
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America Is Broken—Walter Isaacson Wants to Fix It | ||||||
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On Conversations with Coleman: The Viral Educator Warren Smith on Wokeness, Campus Culture, and Losing His Job
Last year, a video went viral of Warren Smith, then a high school teacher, speaking with an off-camera student. In it, Warren responds to his student’s claim that J.K. Rowling is a bigot by posing a series of calm, logic-driven questions.