Andrew Cuomo Enters His Influencer Era. Plus. . .

It’s Thursday, August 7. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Eli Lake traces the ties between Islamists and progressives. How the Democrats are responding to Trump’s immigration agenda. And more.

But first: Andrew Cuomo is trying to go viral.

Andrew Cuomo probably thought he had delivered a big zinger during the first debate before the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in June. “Mr. Mamdani is very good at Twitter and with videos,” the line went. After pausing for effect, Cuomo added, “But he actually produces nothing.”

What the 67-year-old former New York governor didn’t seem to realize is that being “very good” at making viral videos isn’t nothing. In 2025, it might be the whole game, at least for some voters. A poll last month showed that more than 30 percent of those who voted for Zohran Mamdani in the primary said that his social media presence and videos were important—and swayed how they voted.

Back in February when Mamdani was polling at 1 percent, I came across one of his early campaign videos and it stopped me in my tracks. I had never seen political content like it. It was funny, cinematic, and deliberately strange—as if Wes Anderson had directed it. At that moment, I knew that Mamdani was going places.

Fast-forward to today: Mamdani, 33, seems unstoppable. Cuomo, now running as an independent, is trying to catch up online, even though his political instincts were forged in the heyday of network news—not podcasts, TikTok, and Instagram Live.

To see his new strategy at work, I followed Cuomo for a day in LeFrak City, a working-class housing complex in Queens so large that it has its own post office.

One campaign staffer told me that the new approach is to “capture everything.” Two Gen Zers trail Cuomo constantly, documenting every handshake and dad joke. The goal is to make sure social media sees the “authentic Andrew,” an aide told me.

It’s authentic, all right. But is catching up to Mamdani as easy as walking and talking like him? Here is my prognosis, based on the day that I spent walking and talking with Cuomo.

—Olivia Reingold

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Tuesday that it would pay cash bonuses to agents for swiftly deporting illegal immigrants—and then canceled the program less than four hours later. Its goal was “reducing overall removal costs and decreasing strain” on detention resources, an internal memo said.

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waived the age cap of 40 years old for prospective ICE agents. “As of today, we have over 80,000 applicants” for 10,000 positions, Noem said Wednesday on Fox News.

• A U.S. Army sergeant at Georgia’s Fort Stewart was arrested for allegedly shooting five soldiers in his unit yesterday. The victims are expected to survive, though three required surgery.

• An Israel Defense Forces veteran was targeted in what authorities said could be an antisemitic hate crime in Clayton, Missouri. Three cars were torched, and “Death to the IDF” was spray-painted nearby. Police are investigating, and Jewish groups condemned the attack as part of a broader surge in antisemitic violence since October 7, 2023.

• Florida might be preparing to build a second immigration detention center, expanding on its first facility—nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”—amid ongoing lawsuits over allegedly inhumane conditions there. The state awarded at least one new contract for “North Detention Facility.” Governor Ron DeSantis has said that Florida could open its second detention center at a Florida National Guard training center near Jacksonville.

• Senator Marsha Blackburn, a close ally of President Trump, announced a run for Tennessee governor less than a year after her Senate reelection. If elected, she would become the state’s first female governor. Blackburn enters as the GOP front-runner, emphasizing her conservative record and ties to Trump.

• Sean “Diddy” Combs’ team asked Trump for a pardon after the hip-hop mogul’s conviction on prostitution charges. Trump has confirmed that he was approached about Combs but called clemency “more difficult” because “when I ran for office, he was very hostile.” Combs, acquitted of racketeering and trafficking, remains in custody ahead of his October sentencing.