Miller replacing Wiles
The political shakeups in the Trump administration after the disastrous midterm results continued over the weekend, with Stephen Miller promoted to White House chief of staff and Susie Wiles moving to Donald Trump’s political operation. Miller, an immigration hardliner who has drawn significant flak for his strong position on deportations, stepped into his new role on Monday. While the staffing change gives the appearance that Wiles is taking the fall for the midterm disaster, Trump mostly avoided blaming her, saying, “I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!” Miller, the former deputy chief of staff for policy, earned strong condemnation from Democrats. “Trump couldn’t have made a worse choice,” said Hakeem Jeffries, who has announced his candidacy for speaker of the House. “Our Democratic majorities will fight him every step of the way.”

Stock markets drop post-midterms
Once the dust settled after the midterms, the GOP wasn’t the only thing to take a hit. The stock market dropped 12% in the wake of the elections, one of the largest drops on record. Much of this can be attributed to Democrats’ stance against data centers and the AI boom in general, which is exactly what’s propping up the American economy right now. However, the market has historically risen after an election cycle, often rising significantly in the year that follows. A stable market typically follows when a government isn’t rapidly changing policy. Given the government deadlock that’s likely to ensue over the next couple of years, the market will likely return to form soon.

House likely to impeach Hegseth
After the midterm election, calls from Democrats to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth rose quickly. Hegseth, who was confirmed by a razor-thin margin, has long been a target of members in both parties, who are offended by his aggressive efforts to implement a more old-school tough-warrior ethos in the U.S. military. Furthermore, his loyalty to President Trump and the ongoing conflict with Iran have led some Republicans to question Hegseth’s leadership. Rep. James Comer contended, “We have no idea what the strategy is moving forward on Iran.” Hegseth has dug in, with his special adviser Tim Parlatore saying, “He’s not going anywhere. He intends to serve the full four years.” Yet Republican Rep. Thomas Massie is planning to force an impeachment vote on Hegseth this week. Should it fail, Democrats are likely to pick it up again in the new Congress.

White House leans into tariffs after midterms
“We are quadrupling down on tariffs,” said White House trade adviser Peter Navarro in an interview. “They are just kicking [butt].” This stance flies in the face of exit polling, which found that 66% of voters believe President Trump’s tariffs negatively impacted the economy, compared with just 21% who believe they helped. Navarro defended Trump’s tariffs, contending that they have produced “an incredible manufacturing renaissance.” He explained, “We’re seeing it in the ISM Manufacturing Index, which is on a 10-month tear now ... and it’s [because of] tariffs. Look, the world cheats us, and when they cheat us, our jobs go offshore. When we put up the tariff wall, they can’t cheat us, and the jobs come home.” Meanwhile, Democrats led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are promising to “eradicate the Trump tariffs.”

Eisenkot gets nod to form Israeli government instead of Netanyahu
On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot a mandate to form a new government, not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who secured the most seats in Israel’s Knesset. Eisenkot has four weeks to build a coalition and achieve a 61-seat majority. If he fails, the mandate will likely pass to Netanyahu. If neither succeeds, another election will take place. Two smaller factions have already offered Eisenkot their support, bringing his total from 21 seats to 40. After accepting Herzog’s mandate, Eisenkot criticized Netanyahu and welcomed any partners who aligned with four principles, including commitment to destroying terrorist Hamas. “We must form a national emergency government,” Eisenkot said. “This will require creative and unconventional political steps.”

Antisemitic boycott backfires in Philadelphia
Several activist groups planned a boycott of several Jewish-owned businesses in the Philadelphia area for Sunday. However, the protest triggered a much larger counterprotest. The groups protesting the six restaurants in the Rittenhouse area were sponsored by Penn Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, Writers Against the War in Gaza, Philly Bike on Your Left, and members of the Philadelphia chapter of the DSA. Several elected officials condemned the boycott, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, state AG Dave Sunday, and Mayor Cherelle Parker, who said that “singling out businesses because their owners are Jewish is unacceptable and has no place in our city.” Police had to keep the two groups separate after scuffles at the start of the opposing demonstrations, but participants eventually went their separate ways and tensions eased. The Jewish-owned restaurants were not hurt financially.

Houthis hit Aramco tower
The Houthis continue to harass the Saudi kingdom, launching a drone and missile attack on the Aramco tower in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry reported that a Saudi-led coalition intercepted the two ballistic missiles, that no one was hurt, and that the damage to the building was caused by shrapnel. The building contained residential units but was empty at the time of the strike due to warnings by Saudi civil-defense officials shortly before the attack. The Houthis are claiming responsibility for the strike and are touting that it caused significant damage. The Houthi attack followed airstrikes by Saudi Arabia on rebel-controlled areas of Yemen. The conflict in Yemen began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital. After several years of a ceasefire, war broke out again when the Houthis captured territory along the Red Sea coast to attack international shipping.

Nvidia investigates Jensen Huang spy campaign
Intelligence reports indicate that Jensen Huang, the CEO of tech giant Nvidia, took a mistress who was spying on him for the Chinese government. China denied the allegations, but it appears that the Nvidia CEO and Alice Huang (no relation), a Chinese data center executive, became intimate despite Jensen having been married for over 40 years. Nvidia will investigate reports that Jensen was being spied on. The original intelligence reports were conducted outside the company, and the affair seemed fairly obvious to those at the company paying attention, so it seems Nvidia wanted to sweep it under the rug to continue its dealings with China. The company exported chips to the country, and the threat of interrupting those exports has tanked Nvidia’s value over the past couple of days.

El-Sayed calls Michigan the “capital of Arab America”
Last week, Abdul El-Sayed became the first-ever Muslim elected to the United States Senate. During his victory speech, he said, “I know we’re here in DC, which, of course, is the capital of the United States of America, but Michigan is the capital of Arab America.” El-Sayed also celebrated with the Arabic phrase “alhamdulillah,” which means “praise be to God.” During his campaign, El-Sayed repeatedly criticized Israel and made controversial comments about 9/11. He has faced pushback for his association with Hasan Piker and discussion about the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Critics often say El-Sayed exemplifies the red-green alliance and is a socialist in all but name. While the Michigan senator-elect isn’t a DSA member, he supports similar policies, such as Medicare for All and abolishing ICE.

Chappelle mocks Kirk’s death
Professional comedians are constantly searching for ways to make ordinary, or even tragic, events humorous. When it works, it is the best of comedy; when it doesn’t, they draw backlash. Dave Chappelle is no stranger to jokes that draw backlash, but his recent comments about Charlie Kirk’s death certainly seem to lack humor. “Ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered,” Chappelle said at Madison Square Garden on Friday, “and I shouldn’t say this publicly — but I feel better.” The New York crowd naturally laughed at the death of a peaceful conservative figure. Right-wingers online have been quick to point out that Charlie had a very different response when Chappelle was attacked on stage in 2022, calling it “Sinister & Un-American” when prosecutors refused to charge the attacker.

Headlines

  • Trump says deportation policy “too tough” in push for bipartisan deal (Washington Examiner)
  • Georgia House race flips after hundreds of votes go unreported, sparking investigation (RedState)
  • FAA says air traffic control will phase out floppy disks in the next two years (Not the Bee)
  • Russell Brand sentenced to prison for rape, sexual assault of four women (NY Post)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.