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… Inflation is up again today, half the cabinet lives on military bases afraid of various things, we’re selling sensitive chips to Chinese spies while the govt ignores it, we’re in an endless war with Iran, there’s a mass exodus at DOJ, and flights are grounded. This is what MAGA voted for.
… The FAA under Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rolled out a new AI-assisted air traffic control system nationwide today. They also ended up having to order a nationwide grounding of flights shortly thereafter. Fox:
“The FAA has issued a national ground stop over extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety. According to our records this is only the second time that a nationwide ground stop for all aircraft has been issued since 9/11.”
… Duffy posted this 4 days ago: “We rolled out ‘SMART’ to cut flight delays and help air traffic controllers, and it’s WORKING. Early results: 10+ minutes saved per flight. 180 flights rerouted around congestion (24,000 travelers). 80 gallons of fuel saved per trip. Soon this technology is going NATIONWIDE.”
… CNN’s air travel analyst Mary Schiavo:
“What's interesting to me about the ground stop is the FAA had also announced that it was about to deploy their new tool called SMART, to assist in managing air traffic across the entire national airspace system. They were starting to roll out this new system.
I don't know if they're linked, but it's just too much of a coincidence that they were trying to start that moving today and now we have problems with the system. And that would be my guess that they are having computer issues by putting the AI software in with the old. It’s a big problem.”
… DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was asked about the crisis in a press gaggle outside the WH:
Q: “Could this be AI related? Mullin: We call it SI around here.”
… Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said he will challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate Majority Leader. He made the announcement on CNN:
Q: “How many senators have pledged their support to you? Van Hollen: We have a lot of people. Q: More than 10? Van Hollen: More. We have a lot of people.”
“This is a generational opportunity for the senate to respond to the call of the American people for change. The scale and scope of this victory, 56 senate democratic seats, really gives us a mandate and the votes to do big things.”
“While voters have rejected the Trump policies, they’ve not yet hired Democrats. They’ve given us a chance. We have to earn their trust. And my view is that you can’t earn that trust with old leadership. You need to move on to new leadership.”
“We shouldn’t have a leader who is getting involved in picking sides in open Democratic primaries, and we should be focused on defeating Republicans. We have two senators right now in the Senate who wouldn’t be there if the current majority leader had his way. He supported establishment candidates in the primaries.”
“I believe that we should use our full power in the Senate to respond to the calls of the American people. So, for example, the war in Iran. This is an illegal and senseless war. I believe we need to end it now immediately to use all our power to do that. That means not one more penny spent on this war so that we can bring prices down right away.”
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… Schumer: “I welcome any discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together – 55 seats and counting is an amazing result – and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader. I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people.”
… Several of the senators supporting Schumer seem to be sharing the same talking point:
Sen. Baldwin: “The Brewers just had a record season, and next year is not the time to change our management.“
Sen. King: “Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?”
Sen. Gallego: “When the manager takes you to the World Series, you give him another contract.”
… MS Sen.-elect Scott Colom told MS NOW the claim that Schumer “recruited” him to run is fiction:
“It’s not accurate to say he recruited me. The people of MS recruited me. You think I would listen to somebody who lives in Brooklyn when I was deciding to run for US Senate in MS?”
“Republican leaders need to understand that Republican voters don’t benefit from gerrymandering. You need to make sure the voters are in power to pick their leaders, not leaders in power to pick their voters.”
“When I thought Trump might come to MS, I told my team, ‘Listen, I’m going to work the Trump line. I’m going to ask those voters what matters to them. I’m going to listen.’ And as I expected, there was a lot of things that they were saying that I’ve been hearing in the bluest areas of the state: gas, groceries, concerned about the war in Iran.”
… Washington Sun: “Decades after the Voting Rights Act muzzled Jim Crow-era restrictions in the South - but months before the Supreme Court ripped away some of the law’s protections - community organizers in MS held meeting after meeting last winter trying to help residents understand the evolving twists of redistricting.
… The state with the country’s highest proportion of Black residents is still haunted by decades of now-defunct laws aimed at thwarting minority votes. Crowds of voters gathered occasionally at town halls and churches worried about being disenfranchised like their parents and grandparents before them.
… What the high court could rule - and ultimately would, in April - mattered deeply.
… Scott Colom’s victory over Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith makes him the state’s first Black senator since the Reconstruction era. The win may have been shocking to those prognosticators outside the Deep South - but community advocates, particularly Black organizers, say they saw the purpling of a ruby-red state like MS coming.
… The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais, a landmark ruling that made it harder to challenge maps that dilute minority voting power, and the subsequent legislative whiplash from wrangling over congressional district maps also energized a base that didn’t want to be silenced.”
… Washington Sun: “Mary Peltola’s lead over Dan Sullivan in the AK senate race widened overnight to 5,800 votes with more votes to be counted: ‘it’s clear that Mary’s victory is all but guaranteed’ in the first round, her campaign says.” She has to get 50% to avoid moving to the 2nd round of ranked choice votes and is very close.
… Republican election data analyst Josh Landon: “Most of the outstanding 40,000 ballots are coming from the Juneau area and rural AK, both of which will favor Peltola. Most of the Anchorage vote is in. I don’t see a path for Sullivan at this point. Peltola likely gets 50% in the initial count.”
… Democrat Cindy Holscher won the governor’s race in Kansas.
… Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has won Alaska’s governor’s race.
… 75% of the American people are living in states that will now have a Democratic governor.
… Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on CNN: “I don’t think Vance did himself any favors by sending out that tweet after the election. This loss was not because of Iran. That might have played a part, but I don’t think every statewide Republican in TX lost their election because they think American foreign policy is too interventionist. Put down the crack pipe.”
… NYT: “Nearly two years ago, Democrats could do little more than watch as Trump seized control of the US budget, slashing billions of dollars and firing droves of civil workers in a downsizing that Congress never authorized. Now, as the party prepares to take charge in the House and Senate, its incoming leaders say they are plotting ways to keep Trump in check.
… In the wake of their overwhelming electoral victory, Democrats have promised to cement their power under the Constitution to control the nation’s purse. They hope to boost funding for federal climate, education, health, housing and safety net initiatives next year, then take steps that would prevent Trump from slowing down or interfering with the money again.”
… Semafor: “House Democrats are looking askance at Rep. Jim Jordan’s election as minority leader, given the OH Republican has few relationships across the aisle - but next year, they might not have to work with him much. Democrats cushy House majority is likely to eliminate the need for Republican support on key funding and rule votes.”
… Politico: “Progressives are spoiling for a party-defining fight next year with Trump, using the same hardball tactic Republicans used last year to skirt the filibuster and muscle tax cuts through Congress.
… As they prepare to take control of the House and Senate next year, some lawmakers on the left are pushing their colleagues to send Trump sweeping legislation chock full of Democratic priorities by way of the budget reconciliation process.
… They’re floating the idea even though they know there’s no chance it will become law, but that’s not the point. Rather, the purpose is to pick a big, showy fight with the president, and put a spotlight on the Democratic platform ahead of the 2028 presidential election.”
… Sen. Bernie Sanders: “It’s important that we show the American people what we stand for, that we fight for an agenda that the American people want.”
… Sen. Don Beyer (D-VA) disagreed with that approach: “I’m not interested in making political statements. I want to make a difference - I want to solve problems. We had this big victory, and I don’t want to turn around and give all the seats right back because we swing too far the other way.”
… Axios: “Senate Democrats could find some of their most surprising allies next Congress from the right wing of the Republican Party. Senate Democrats are on track to need only 4 GOP votes to break filibusters next Congress. They could find those votes from a bloc of GOP senators with a shared appetite for taking on corporate power.
… Enter Sens. Josh Hawley, Jim Banks, Bernie Moreno and Eric Schmitt. Each has already worked with Democrats, and their votes could put legislation over the top. Hawley has co-led multiple pieces of legislation with Sen. Elizabeth Warren this Congress.
… Hawley is often viewed as a loner in the GOP, pairing populist economics with hardcore culture war issues from abortion to transgender care to religious freedom. He’s been scathing in his post-election critiques:
“This Congress did not come and work for the people. This Congress came and worked for AI companies, and it worked for data centers, and it worked for big tech companies.”
“You want to raise the minimum wage? I’m for that. You want to work to get gas prices down? I’m for that. I am open to anything to bring down the cost of health care.”
… Hawley and moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were among the loudest GOP voices opposing the expiration of enhanced ACA credits last year. Over the summer, Warren and Moreno released a sweeping plan to “save Social Security.” Warren and Banks have tag-teamed on numerous tech and AI safety bills.
… Schmitt worked with Warren in 2024 and 2025 to challenge Big Tech’s dominance of Pentagon AI contracts, and with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in July to crack down on search engine monopolies.”
… Semafor: “National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is expected to depart his role at the WH in the coming weeks. Hassett has been inquiring about roles outside the admin since well before this month’s midterm elections. Scott Bessent, who could hold both jobs, and his counselor, David Zervos, are among those being eyed to replace him.”
… Maybe the Smiling Liar got tired of making up new ways to spin terrible economic numbers on CNBC and Fox Business.
… NYT: “DOJ, which has already seen the exodus of hundreds of career officials who were forced out or left because they disagreed with Trump’s priorities, faces a daunting new staffing dilemma spurred by the election.
… Many career officials who hung on until now, including some who broadly support DOJ’s current mission, are eyeing the exits to avoid two grim years of partisan combat. They are joined by a second, higher-profile group: senior DOJ officials who have submitted resignations, some after a discreet shove, in a leadership reshuffle over the past week.
… Former officials now at private law firms said they were receiving calls from officials on the inside reporting that morale, already sagging, had gotten much worse since Election Day.”
… Barbara McQuade, former US Attorney for the E. District of Michigan during the Obama admin: “This has the feel of rats fleeing the sinking ship.”
Reminder there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I’m off Saturdays. For the first time in a long time I’m doing absolutely nothing - staying home, cooking and binging a show. We will start the holiday and winter festivities next week.
I will have the next Bulletin out on Sunday night to recap the entire weekend. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Thank you for reading and subscribing to my work and the work of our great team at Meidas!
… Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has Republicans and Democrats calling for his ouster for his role in the Nvidia scandal. The calls are coming from the business community, Congress, conservative media, and even inside the Trump Admin, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent trashed him on CNBC this morning. In appears that Lutnick’s last friend is his fellow Epstein pal Trump.
… Politico: “Trump is again facing pressure over his Commerce secretary and longtime friend Howard Lutnick as the department and its leaders face mounting bipartisan
criticism in the wake of the Nvidia scandal.
… Although Lutnick has weathered criticism previously - including over his ties to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein - he is now facing the most intense scrutiny of his nearly two years as Commerce secretary as Republican and Democratic lawmakers call for him to testify about his dept’s handling of Nvidia and national security risks around China gaining access to US chips.
… Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) requested Lutnick to voluntarily appear before the Senate banking committee, which he chairs, in a Thursday night letter. Lutnick has agreed to appear. And he’s facing criticism from within the admin, too, for a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang they say resulted in lax oversight of the chipmaker.”
One senior admin official: “I don’t know if this is necessarily the straw that’s going to break the camel’s back. POTUS himself was just too directly involved for this to be an easy, ‘Lutnick is the scapegoat.’”
Another senior admin official: “This situation is a complete and utter disaster and perfectly encapsulates the last one-and-a-half years of working with Commerce.”
… Bessent on CNBC:
“Treasury, War, USTR, and State were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months, but Commerce has the pen. You will have to ask them about their internal processes.”
Q - “Was there an incident where you confronted Lutnick and said, ‘What’s going on and why did you not do this, and now look how everything has come back on the admin?’ Bessent: We don’t repeat conversations in the Situation Room. Q - I’ve seen reporting that it happened. Bessent: What I can say is that at Treasury we have been pushing for this for months.”
… Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) on CNBC: “Jensen Huang gave $26 million to the Trump admin that’s publicly known. If the Trump admin was in bed with Nvidia, and the CEO was in bed with a Chinese spy, and that has real consequences for our national security, I think that’s something well worth investigation.”
… Incoming House Oversight Chair Robert Garcia on MS NOW: “What were the president’s motives? Why was he so obsessed with the CEO? Why did he push these deals that benefit China? There are real national security implications.”
… AFP: “A Chinese university with close ties to the country’s defence bodies recently bought advanced AI chips made by tech giant Nvidia, procurement notices show, despite stringent US controls. The findings come as the firm is embroiled in crisis following revelations that co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang may have been caught up in a Chinese espionage operation, sending its shares tumbling.
… Northwestern Polytech in the city of Xi’an purchased two Nvidia H200 chips from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology - not Nvidia directly - for 874,700 yuan ($131,200), according to a procurement notice dated Oct 21. H200 chips are subject to US export controls that limit direct shipments to China and apply certain restrictions on their resale globally.
… The H200 chips were purchased for the management school of NPU, which is one of China’s ‘Seven Sons of National Defence’ universities that conduct defence-related research and maintain links with the country’s military. Another procurement notice dated Sept 4 shows that NPU’s cybersecurity school purchased two Nvidia H200s for 796,000 yuan.”
… Investment News: “SEC enforcement against public companies and their subsidiaries collapsed to its lowest level on record in fiscal year 2026, with the regulator initiating just 16 actions - a 71% decline from the 56 brought in the prior year and the smallest annual tally since the Securities Enforcement Empirical Database began tracking data.
… The 16 actions initiated in fiscal year 2026 were less than half the prior SEED low of 37 actions recorded in fiscal year 2013 and 52 fewer than the 68 brought in fiscal year 2022, the first full year under the previous admin. It marked the weakest opening year of any new SEC administration since at least fiscal year 2013.”
… CNN: “High energy prices continue to ripple through US supply chains, raising the costs for businesses and setting the stage for further increases in the coming months for American consumers. Wholesale inflation accelerated last month to its highest rate in nearly 4 years, BLS data showed Friday.
… The PPI, a measurement of average price changes received by producers and manufacturers, rose 0.3% from the month before and 6.5% for the 12 months ended in Oct, the highest annual rate since Nov 2022. The Iran war and the resulting energy supply shock have sent gas and diesel prices markedly higher in recent months.
… Fuel prices didn’t rise as quickly last month as they did in Sept (when PPI rose at a breakneck rate of 1.4% to reach 6.3%); however, the ripple effects from the recent months’ surge, coupled with other more persistent price pressures, kept wholesale inflation quite elevated.”
… Economist Heather Long: “Another day, another worrying US inflation statistic. PPI (basically business inflation) is +6.5% in the past year. That’s even hotter than the 4% consumer inflation. Businesses are almost certainly going to pass some of those higher costs onto consumers. It’s yet another worrisome inflation risk heading into 2027.
… And no, it’s not all diesel/gas. PPI excluding food and energy = +5.0%. CPI excluding food and energy = +2.8%.”
… Scott Bessent to CNBC: “I’m quite confident that the economy is in very good shape, and there’s nothing that’s setting off any alarm bells for me right now.”
… WaPo: “A movement to give the presidency to whoever receives the most votes nationally has new momentum after Democrats swept state races in the midterm elections, but still faces major hurdles in legislative chambers and courtrooms.
… For two decades, reformers have pressed states to agree to give their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of who wins their state. The arrangement would render the electoral college moot and end aberrations like the ones in 2000 and 2016 that saw W. Bush and Trump win the presidency despite Democrats receiving more votes.
… Finding a way to sidestep the electoral college once seemed all but impossible. But with Democrats winning full control of more state govts last week, it now appears within reach - at least politically.”
… Bloomberg: “TX AG-elect Nathan Johnson vowed to take a close look at any potential merger between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla, warning of the perils of corporate concentration as the state’s two most valuable companies weigh a tie-up.
… Musk has concentrated much of his empire in TX, where he sought a more business-friendly regulatory environment under the state’s Republican leadership. He also spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support the GOP in TX. TX Democrats including Johnson, Gov-elect Gina Hinojosa and US Senator-elect James Talarico have vowed to put a check on his power.
… Johnson: “Any merger of companies of that consequence warrants tremendous scrutiny. I think he’s received a great deal of deference due to his alignment with the Republican Party and the tons of money he spent for the Republican Party. I have no qualms about examining his relationships to the state.”
… Meanwhile, the current AG Ken Paxton, who just lost a senate election to Talarico, was spotted by TMZ in the San Francisco airport with his girlfriend yesterday where they were reportedly boarding a flight to Fiji. This comes after he took separate trips to Iceland and the UK in the middle of his senate campaign. He is still the AG of TX until Johnson takes office.
… AG Todd Blanche has also now moved onto a military base. He joins Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller who are all hunkered down living on bases with military protection. Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi also lived in military housing when they were in the admin.
… CNBC: Trump has said he wants to “get Cuba done” before leaving office in 2029, adding that he would “certainly consider” military intervention against the communist-run Caribbean island.
… Trump said his admin was monitoring the situation in Havana “very closely” and described Cuba as a “failed” state. “I want to get Cuba done before I leave,” Trump said. Trump said Marco Rubio, whose parents are from Cuba, “would love to do it” and said he would “certainly consider” a short military operation.
… Axios: “The director of the Israeli spy agency Mossad is in Washington Friday for talks with senior Trump admin officials about the war in Iran. The visit by Roman Gofman, one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants, comes as the Israeli PM is pressing Trump to resume the war against Iran.”
… Fox: “Mike Pence isn’t ruling out another run for the WH in 2028. He also delivered a warning to his party following the GOP’s severe setbacks in the 2026 midterm elections, arguing that Republicans risk another defeat unless they abandon departures from the traditional conservative principles that have defined the party for decades.”
… Pence on running for president again:
“We’ve been hearing from a lot of people around the country. I’ve been very humbled by that.”
"I will continue to lean into advocating that broad mainstream conservative agenda that's defined the Republican Party for the last 50 years. There's a lot of folks on the populist right that suggest that people that hew to that old Reagan tradition don't know what time it is, and I think the midterm elections have given a verdict on their approach to Republicanism."
… Fox asked the WH for comment. They issued this statement: "Mike Pence’s total and complete lack of courage caused untold damage to our great country. If Republican voters cared what Mike Pence had to say, he wouldn’t have had to drop out of the presidential race months before the Iowa caucuses."
… German diplomats told BILD that the Russian delegation made completely unreasonable demands in peace talks brokered by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in UAE. They made the following demands to end their invasion of Ukraine:
No European troops in Ukraine.
Moscow would retain the occupied territories and gain control over the entire Donbas region.
Demilitarized ports in Ukraine (Odesa and Mykolaiv).
Freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea.
No NATO bases in the Baltic states.
Finland to leave NATO.
Ukrainian accession to the EU would be permitted, but membership in NATO would be blocked.
Restructuring of Moldova: A federal republic comprising the Moldovan core territory, Transnistria, and Gagauzia.
Should Moldova join the EU, Transnistria and Gagauzia would be granted the right to hold referendums on their own independence.
… What an amazing deal Kushner and Witkoff are working on with their hero Putin.
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