It’s Thursday, June 25. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Why is Pete Hegseth going after a great military leader? The UK is still running gender experiments on children. Douglas Murray on Conversations with Coleman. And much more.

But first: The New York City earthquake.

The media is frequently accused of being too focused on what happens in New York City, and not interested enough in the rest of the country. Usually, that’s true. But after Tuesday’s congressional primaries, in which three Zohran Mamdani–backed candidates toppled Democrats supported by the party establishment, you could argue the opposite.

These races earned plenty of column inches, of course. Yet what happened was enormous, perhaps the clearest sign yet that we are living in a revolutionary moment. Why? Because the nature of the victories—with radical, just-recently-fringe candidates sweeping aside incumbents—was emphatic. It is a revolution not just in New York politics but in the Democratic Party nationwide. Our first piece today on this important story comes from seasoned political journalist Mark Halperin, and it’s on the defining feature of this insurgency: virulent opposition to Israel.

Mark has spent decades investigating some of the toughest and biggest issues in America. But, as he writes for us today, lately he has “come up short on one question”: “How did opposition to Israel become the toxic litmus test in Democratic Party politics—so rapidly, so emotionally, and so completely?”

Read his best attempt at an answer to that all-important question:

There’s also a paradox at the epicenter of the political earthquake that hit New York City on Tuesday night: The progressive candidates who claim to represent a working-class revolution won their primaries thanks to the votes of the well-educated, credentialed, and affluent, while low-income New Yorkers tended to back more moderate candidates.

Our second story today unpacks that dynamic with a deep dive into the victory of DSA-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier over five-term Democratic incumbent Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th Congressional District. The race, featuring two Dominican American candidates, exposed a growing divide between the district’s long-established immigrant community and its more activist, college-educated heirs.

Today, Rafael A. Mangual examines these dynamics and identifies an underappreciated divide in American politics today. “The immigrant who built a career on becoming American has given way to the American-born activist who rejects American patriotism,” he writes.

Having won their primaries, the three Mamadani-backed candidates are all but certain to make it to Congress in the general election this fall. But who are they? And just what do they believe? For a primer on New York’s new socialist squad, including the candidate who has said she wants to “abolish borders” and refuses to condemn Hamas, read Olivia Reingold’s latest:

If Tuesday’s election was a demonstration of Mamdani’s political strength, tonight we will find out if his top campaign promise—a rent freeze for the 2.4 million New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments—will become a reality. Matt Miller, a New York landlord, previews the meeting of the Rent Guidelines Board where a decision will be made on the policy, and warns that the whole process resembles a show trial. Read his piece on how what is supposed to be a deliberative, analytical process has been hijacked by Mamdani’s allies:

For more on what we saw at the revolution in New York this week, catch up on our latest livestream, with Rafaela Siewert in the host’s chair, and featuring Mark Halperin, Douglas Murray, and Reihan Salam.

Here at The Free Press, we’ve been dissecting the forces upending our politics long before they made it onto the front page of The New York Times. I don’t think you can properly understand them unless you understand two ideas, both of which have been fleshed out by important young thinkers in our pages. The first is anti-Zionism, which Adam Louis Klein so brilliantly explained as just another form of Jew-hate. Read Adam’s first piece on that for us, from last October, here:

The second is Third Worldism, a term coined by Zineb Riboua to describe the worldview of Mamdani and the generation of young progressives for which he has become the standard-bearer. Read Zineb if you want to understand why Mamdani and his allies have beliefs derived not from Marx or Mecca—but a 20th-century crusade that turned anti-imperial struggle into a moral identity.

—Oliver Wiseman

Aaron MacLean • U.S. Politics

Is Pete Hegseth Firing the Wrong General?

U.S. Army General Christopher Donahue is considered “the most impressive combat leader of his generation,” according to Aaron MacLean. So why is Donahue being forced to relinquish his command and retire early? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s apparent firing of Donahue at a time when the nature of warfare is rapidly evolving is a mistake, writes MacLean, and deprives American warfighters of one of its most decorated and capable leaders. Read story ›

Julie Bindel • Sex and Gender

Puberty Blockers for 11-Year-Old Girls? It’s Happening.

The UK is set to conduct another pediatric gender medicine trial—this time with kids as young as 11 years old. Why? As Julie Bindel writes, the UK has been at the forefront of conducting trials that go against established opinion on gender medicine. But is the UK backtracking, forgetting the lessons learned about how harmful pediatric gender transitions are? Read story ›

Coleman Hughes • Conversations with Coleman

Douglas Murray: The Iranian Regime Means What It Says

Is the current regime in Tehran any different than the reg