Politics

• GOP keeps its crucial House majority: Decision Desk HQ calls itself “a leading provider of real-time election results, race calls, and data,” and given the mainstream media’s unwillingness to venture a verdict on the foremost outstanding question of the 2024 election cycle, we’re inclined to welcome some informed speculation. As The Hill reports, “Republicans are projected to keep control of the House of Representatives, handing the party total control of Washington with President-elect Trump back in the White House in January. Decision Desk HQ projected the GOP would hold the House by winning its 218th seat on Monday, the number needed for a majority in the lower chamber. … The final House breakdown is uncertain, with ballots still being counted for several races in California. But Republicans are expected to have another slim majority heading into the new Congress.” Still, this is spectacularly good news for the Trump agenda. Even with his landslide victory, Donald Trump’s second term would’ve been entirely, radically different if the Democrats had wrested control of the gavels, of the purse, of the legislative agenda, and of the power to subpoena witnesses and hold impeachment hearings, as they did twice during Trump’s first term.

• Lake loses AZ: Democrat Representative Ruben Gallego has defeated Kari Lake for Arizona’s open Senate seat, leaving Republicans with a 53-seat majority in the upper chamber. A four-seat Senate majority would have been a bonus, but the fact that Republicans have gained control of the Senate is a big win as it ensures that Donald Trump will be able to get his cabinet and judicial nominees confirmed quickly. This was Lake’s second consecutive failed election bid; in 2022, she ran for Arizona governor, losing to Democrat Katie Hobbs. Lake is a staunch Trump supporter who echoed many of Trump’s claims regarding the 2020 election, for which she’s been smeared by Democrats and Leftmedia talkingheads as an “election denier.” Gallego will now fill the seat vacated by the departing Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democrat Party to become independent last year before declining to seek reelection.

• Schumer’s election denialism: Soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has refused to recognize Republican Dave McCormick’s election victory in Pennsylvania over Democrat incumbent Bob Casey Jr.. Schumer wants to prohibit McCormick from attending the Senate orientation, citing a number of outstanding ballots. A spokesman for Schumer explained, “With over 100,000 ballots left to be counted in Pennsylvania, the race has not been decided. As is custom, we will invite the winner once the votes are counted." Senate Republicans blasted Schumer over his decision, with Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) posting on X, "Schumer and Senate Democrats are denying the election results in #PASen. Trying to block @DaveMcCormickPA from attending Senate orientation this week is an outrage. Casey must concede immediately or Senate Democrats face consequences.” Despite Schumer’s decision, McCormick is still planning to attend the orientation.

UPDATE: Schumer caves.

• Who will lead the Republican-controlled Senate? With the House of Representatives now secured and the GOP in control of both the upper and lower legislative chambers, attention turns to the race to replace the occasionally catatonic 82-year-old Mitch McConnell as the GOP’s Senate leader. The race has three contestants: staunch Trump ally Rick Scott and two hand-picked establishment candidates, John Thune and John Cornyn. The latter two are from the McConnellite wing of the GOP’s Senate caucus, and they should therefore be viewed suspiciously in terms of their willingness to pursue Trump’s America First agenda. “I think everybody realizes that we need to make a change,” Scott told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo, in something of an understatement. Scott, incidentally, has the endorsement of his fellow Florida senator, Marco Rubio, and he no doubt will have Trump’s endorsement as well, if Trump decides to weigh in. That Leader McConnell refused to use his massive Senate election war chest to help Scott secure reelection this year gives us a sense of the animus between these two GOP factions.

• Trump to name Marco Rubio as secretary of state (Washington Examiner)

• Trump taps Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary (NY Post)

• Former ICE Director Tom Homan “honored” to be appointed Trump’s border czar (Fox News)

• Trump asks Rep. Mike Waltz, China hawk, to be his national security adviser (AP)

• Trump has chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik to be UN ambassador (Just the News)

• Trump taps former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin to lead EPA (Washington Free Beacon)

• Trump to announce Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff in new admin (ABC News)

Security

• Parole program nullified: Joe Biden’s mass illegal alien amnesty action dubbed “parole in place” granted legal status to illegal aliens married to American citizens and illegal alien stepchildren of American citizens. Well, the lawless chief executive just got another rebuke, as U.S. District Judge John Campbell Barker has ruled that the program itself is illegal. Barker noted that the DHS lacked “statutory authority under” the law to parole illegal aliens. The program would have applied to at least 550,000 illegal aliens, but the actual number was likely many times higher. The Biden administration rolled out the program in June, but 16 states sued to prevent it from taking effect. As America First Legal Executive Director Gene Hamilton observed, had these states not acted to stop Biden, his action would have “paved the path for the largest administrative amnesty in American history.”

• FBI’s Wray girds for long-overdue defenestration: When it became clear last week that Donald Trump would sweep to an electoral landslide, FBI Director Christopher Wray realized he’d better dust off the ol’ résumé. The question now is whether, having read the writing on the wall, Wray will resign his office or force Trump to fire him. Wray and Trump’s team “are planning for the possibility that the president-elect will replace Wray during the new administration,” NBC News reports. “One person under consideration for Wray’s job is Trump adviser Kash Patel, who is also being considered to lead the CIA, according to two other sources.” Wray has been on thin ice all along. He was appointed by Trump in 2017 to the customary 10-year term, but he has consistently meted out two-tiered justice during his tenure, targeting concerned parents and pro-life Catholics, among others. Beyond that, he presided over a corrupt bureau that nakedly interfered in the 2020 election to the benefit of Joe Biden. And given that he serves at the pleasure of the president, we sense that this is a matter of “when,” not “if.”

• Iran’s assassination attempts exposed: Just as the U.S. dollar and stock markets soared upon news of Donald Trump’s landslide election, Iran’s mullahs saw their currency fall to an all-time low. Alas, they backed the wrong horse. The rogue regime’s leadership is apparently “terrified” of a Trump presidency, and rightly so. It’s one thing to root against an American presidential candidate, but it’s quite another to try to assassinate him. As ABC News reports: “Three people have been charged in a series of alleged Iran-linked murder plots, with one of them accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump … according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in New York.” Apparently, one of the suspects “told the FBI that during an Oct. 7 meeting with his [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] handler he was asked to provide a plan within seven days to kill Trump. If it could not be done in that timeframe, the IRGC would pause its plan to kill Trump until after the election ‘because IRGC Official-1 assessed that [Trump] would lose the election and, afterward, it would [be] easier to assassinate [Trump].’” Oops.

• North Korea and Russia ratify defense treaty (Washington Examiner)

Culture

• A Democrat calls out his own party: As Democrats and Leftmedia pundits grapple with Donald Trump’s sweeping election victory, one bold Democrat representative from Massachusetts is willing to point out the obvious: his party has gone too far left and lost touch with the vast majority of the American electorate. “We as Democrats are more concerned about offending people and just getting all our words right than actually having legitimate, serious debates about issues that matter,” Representative Seth Moulton said during an interview on Boston Public Radio. And that issue Moulton was referring to specifically is transgenderism and its impact on girls and women’s spaces and sports. “I’m not going to apologize for bringing up the issue,” he added. “This is the problem with Democrats: We’re more concerned about offending people than actually talking about issues, and that’s why a majority of Americans just think we’re out of touch.” He further observed why Americans aren’t voting for Democrats: “It’s because we’re not listening. We’re just shutting down debate.”

• Olympic boxer Imane Khelif takes legal action over male chromosomes claims (The Guardian)

Misc.

• Biden, Harris appear together for first time since Election Day at Veterans Day ceremony (Fox News)

• Former Harris staffer calls on Biden to resign, install Harris as first female president (Fox News)

• Judge delays ruling on whether to scrap Trump’s conviction in hush-money case (AP)

• Federal judge strikes down Illinois assault weapons ban as unconstitutional (Washington Examiner)

• MSNBC and CNN ratings plummet following Trump’s landslide victory (Daily Wire) | Humor: Jimmy Kimmel ratings soar after debuting new segment where he stands there all sad and cries like a wuss (Babylon Bee)

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