The New Administration
Republicans successfully ran the table in the elections last week, securing a majority in the Senate and House, and of course the presidency.
The New Administration
President-elect Donald Trump has begun naming his cabinet. Some names are quite conventional; others couldn’t be more disruptive and will likely face trouble being confirmed in the Senate.
The most likely way Trump will get the more controversial cabinet picks quickly is by recess appointment. When Congress is in recess, the president is allowed to appoint government officials to serve for up to two years without confirmation initially, then confirm them over those two years.
Trump Returns to the White House
On Wednesday, President-elect Trump met with President Biden for a customary meeting to discuss the administration transition. Biden was all smiles and joy for what the public saw of a two-hour meeting between the presidents.
This comes after Biden was forced by the Democrat party from the race, giving the nomination instead to Harris. Biden departs the White House with “the only one to beat Trump” on his resume, and vindication against those who forced him out.
Axios reports that in the meeting, Biden asked Trump to help with negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Soccer Fans Attacked in Amsterdam
Last week the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team came to the Netherlands for a match with the Amsterdam-based Ajax team. A prominent pro-Muslim Amsterdam city council member warned, “If you invite a club from Israel, it will lead to demonstrations and confrontation, inevitably.”
Whether this was a prediction or a threat, tensions rose. It’s unclear what all transpired, but according to The New York Times, “At least 12 videos verified by The Times depict groups of men questioning, chasing or beating people who were apparently targeted as Maccabi fans. In one video, a man is seen dragging another man, while a third curses at him.
“By Friday morning, the police said, five people were hospitalized, and dozens more had been injured, some with broken legs.”
Ukraine Continues to Lose to Russia
According to The Wall Street Journal, “The war between Russia and Ukraine is escalating. The neighbors this weekend launched their largest drone attacks against each other since the start of the war nearly three years ago. Russia last week began a fresh effort to oust Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region after amassing more than 50,000 troops, including some 10,000 soldiers from North Korea. And Russian troops, while advancing steadily in Ukraine’s east, are incurring record numbers of dead and injured, according to the British military’s top commander.”
This comes as The New York Times reports that “in October, Russia made its largest territorial gains since the summer of 2022, as Ukrainian lines buckled under sustained pressure.”
FEMA Deliberately Neglected Trump Supporters
Last Friday, The Daily Wire reported that FEMA workers in Florida received a message to skip hurricane-ravaged homes with Trump signs: “Avoid homes advertising Trump.”
According to The New York Post, “Marn’i Washington, who was fired last week over the saga, broke her silence in an interview with YouTube podcaster Roland Martin Monday, arguing she had just been following a widespread FEMA policy of avoiding ‘politically hostile’ homes.”
Florida has now sued FEMA for “conspiring” to deny disaster relief and discriminate based on political affiliation.
Other News
- Liberal-Leaning Network Ratings Tank: Following Trump’s resounding defeat of Harris, total daily viewership for MSNBC fell by 51%, while viewership for CNN dropped by 26%. Fox News saw a 34% increase compared to its normal October viewership, not to mention a 58% increase compared to its year-to-date average.
- Feds Reduce Rates Again: Last week the Fed cut another 25 basis points of interest. They will likely not cut again until sometime next year.
- Bitcoin token hits an all-time high: $89,891.
- Harris campaign raises staggering record $1 billion and reportedly ends the presidential race $20 million in debt. This comes after news that the Harris campaign paid $1 million to Oprah Winfrey's production company, Harpo, for a celebrity-filled town hall, according to FEC records. Winfrey told TMZ that she was "paid nothing—ever." A spokesperson for Harpo said Winfrey wasn't paid a “personal fee,” but acknowledged the Harris campaign “paid for the production costs” of the town hall outside Detroit. Harris also donated $500K to Reverend Al Sharpton’s nonprofit before an interview she did with the MSNBC host, according to FEC records.
- A study that shows negative effects of puberty blockers for minors was suppressed, according to The New York Times. “In the nine years since the study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, and as medical care for this small group of adolescents became a searing issue in American politics, Dr. Olson-Kennedy’s team has not published the data. Asked why, she said the findings might fuel the kind of political attacks that have led to bans of the youth gender treatments in more than twenty states, one of which will soon be considered by the Supreme Court.”
