It’s Thursday, November 12.
Donald Trump has been having some sort of mental breakdown on social media this morning. He’s whining, blaming, and threatening people. One thing is absolutely clear: this guy has learned NOTHING from the midterms.
Here are some of the things we’re following:
Trump’s overnight Truth Social meltdown
The White House warns Democrats not to investigate Trump, and Jim Jordan takes over the House GOP minority
USS George H.W. Bush families confront Navy leaders over an open-ended Iran deployment and poor conditions
The IRGC says tankers exploded in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran moves toward leaving the NPT
Witkoff and Kushner are back in Moscow with Putin
Jensen Huang resigns from Nvidia amid a spy scandal, and Trump’s Nvidia stock sale comes into view
COP31 opens in Türkiye with no U.S. delegation
Scott Colom becomes Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction
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Trump Posts Through It
Let’s start with the context of Trump’s crash out.
Democrats just broke a decades-long losing streak in Texas. James Talarico beat Ken Paxton, the first Democratic U.S. Senate win in Texas since 1988, and Gina Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott. House Republicans are headed into the minority. So at 4:04 this morning, Trump blamed “the perceived loss by the Republicans in the Midterms,” reminded everyone that “I WAS NOT ON THE BALLOT,” and claimed huge caravans are now marching through Mexico. He said if Mexico doesn’t stop them, tariffs on Mexico will be “IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED,” and that he had informed “THE VERY LIBERAL NEW GOVERNOR OF TEXAS.” Dude, you’re still in the Oval Office.
His trade representative, Jamieson Greer, went on CNBC to defend the threat. He said tariffs would be more stable if Democratic attorneys general would stop trying to overturn them. While he was talking, the ticker on screen showed the S&P 500 down nearly 0.8%, the Nasdaq-tracking QQQ down 1.3%, and Nvidia getting hammered.
Then came the tax returns rant… Trump claimed Democratic “inspired accountants FOUND NOTHING except that I paid my taxes.” Here’s a reminder: his returns showed he paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. He’s also a convicted felon on 34 counts, and his former criminal defense lawyer now runs his Justice Department. In another post he called Democrats “CORRUPT AND EVIL” and bragged that he’s “the only President” to give up his salary. That’s false, because Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy both gave theirs away.
He also announced that JD Vance will now focus his “complete and total attention” on corruption in blue states like Minnesota, California and Illinois, and he claimed the budget could be “quickly BALANCED” by fixing it. He’s had the budget the whole time. He also asked, again, whether the “Seditious Six” will ever be prosecuted. That’s Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, whose crime was reminding service members that they can refuse illegal orders.
In the same post as the Vance assignment, Trump said: “We don’t need a deal with Iran... we’ve got their Strait!” So much for the dealmaker. As you probably know, my brother Ben teaches negotiation at USC Law, and there’s a reason we titled a chapter of our book WTF America “No Deal Donald.” Trump doesn’t negotiate. He uses talks to lure people in, then acts in bad faith.
The Oversight Fight Is Coming
The White House knows that oversight is coming, and it’s running scared. On Tuesday, House Democrats announced that 36 federal agencies and private companies had received letters telling them to preserve materials for investigations of the Trump regime. Now the White House is warning Democrats not to investigate Trump. When NewsNation asked whether that was hypocritical after Republicans spent years going after Fauci, Comey, the Bidens, and the Clintons, Rep. Marlin Stutzman complained that Democrats are “so fixated on the Trump family.” Yeah, it’s called accountability, buddy!
Over on Newsmax, Rep. Dan Meuser said Republicans need to be “the party of no excuses.” Have you read your boss’s Truth Social this morning? It’s nothing but whining and excuses.
Young voters are seeing through it. On CNN, Harry Enten showed that 18-to-24-year-olds swung 42 points toward Democrats over the last two years. Trump won 43% of that group in 2024, and CNN’s exit poll graphic now puts his approval with them at just 15%.
Navy Families Confront the Trump Regime
This is the story I most want you to read and I can’t believe it hasn’t gotten more attention. MS NOW’s Priya Sridhar got exclusive audio of a Nov. 9 town hall at Naval Station Norfolk. About 500 family members of the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group were told their loved ones won’t be home for the holidays. This is the second extension. The strike group left Norfolk on March 31 for what was supposed to be a six- to seven-month deployment, and its 7,000 service members relieved the USS Gerald R. Ford, which had been there since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. The Bush went 187 days without a port call before a four-day stop in Phuket on Oct. 4. Carriers usually stop every four to six weeks. Capt. Justin Issler has since told the crew to plan for a worst case of 12 months at sea.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told families this was happening because “we’ve been in this 47-year war with these Iranians, we just didn’t know about it.” ???????
He said Trump is “a businessman” who knows war is bad for business. When families asked what would bring the ships home besides “when the president says so,” Cao said the criteria is “a non-nuclear Iran.” A family member shot back that it isn’t going to happen, because Iran still has its nuclear material, and called the mission “unsustainable and unaffordable.” Cao gave no timeline. Navy leaders said Pete Hegseth decides when the troops come home.
Life on the ship is falling apart. Ships are now being supplied from Diego Garcia, about 2,200 miles away. Adm. Carl Thomas said fresh food from Japan and the Philippines lasts about a week before the crew is down to canned vegetables. One spouse said her husband saw an apple for the first time in three months and almost cried. Another described broken toilets, broken washers, and her husband hand-washing oil-soaked coveralls from the flight deck. Families said they were getting the “runaround,” and one asked what the Navy was doing to push back on Trump so this doesn’t become a forever war.
The most painful moment came when Cao answered a question about mental health by pointing to the USS Abraham Lincoln. A wife told him her husband had been suicidal several times aboard the Bush and was told he didn’t have time for mental health care. Another spouse said her husband was turned away after seeking help, and that she now pays for therapy for three of her four kids. Cao admitted there isn’t enough support. The town hall ended after an hour and 22 minutes, with hands still in the air.
To the service members and families who watch us: we see you, and we’re proud of you. If you want to share your stories, please feel free to contact us. And if you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988 and press 1 for the Veterans/Military Crisis Line.
Iran and the Strait
The IRGC claims two “rogue” supertankers exploded in the Strait of Hormuz last night. Iran’s Assembly of Experts says reviewing withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has become an “unavoidable necessity.” So the regime’s one exit criterion is moving further away. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told that Iran reached a shipping corridor understanding with Oman. He also claimed U.S. carriers have pulled back out of range, which is unverified. U.S. Soccer also pulled its U-17 men’s team from the World Cup in Qatar over security concerns.
Dumb and Dumber in Moscow
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, neither of them Senate-confirmed, are back in Moscow on our dime. Look how happy they look!
Putin told them territory matters less than people’s “traditions” and “culture,” which is how he justifies claiming Ukraine. Kushner talked up “momentum” with the Europeans. At the European Political Community summit in Dublin, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has again detected speed restrictions on SpaceX’s Starshield network over occupied territory, which makes it harder to intercept Russian drones. He said Kyiv knows very little from the American side. Emmanuel Macron put it bluntly: “there is no more U.S. support.”
Huang is OUT
Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia’s CEO over his reported affair with Alice Huang, an executive U.S. intelligence suspects of working for Beijing. There was also another story that dropped yesterday about an affair he had with the company’s VP of Healthcare. CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO. Trump, who had backed Huang staying, immediately named his own pick: “TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!”
Meanwhile, Quiver Quantitative flagged that Trump filed an August 21 sale of up to $1 million in Nvidia stock, which is now down about 29% since then. His filing lists the sale at $500,001 to $1 million, along with purchases of up to $1.6 million that month, and the White House says independent managers run his accounts. In my view, Americans deserve to know exactly what he knew and when.
Hillary Clinton predicted that when Trump sees Xi Jinping, he’ll ask whether it’s true and then accept Xi’s denial, the same way he did with Putin.
At COP31, The World Shows Up, Trump Doesn’t
There are so many stories not getting enough attention, so I’ll always do my best to highlight them in this newsletter.
The Climate Action Tracker projects 2.7°C of warming by 2100 under current policies. For the second year in a row, the U.S. sent NO delegation to the summit in Antalya, where 197 nations are represented. The White House called it “climate nonsense.” Democrats showed up anyway to represent the U.S. Gavin Newsom and Tim Walz arrive today, and Gina McCarthy is leading about 120 U.S. officials. About 20 Democratic members of Congress had to give up State Department funding and rely on philanthropic support to attend.
The press seemed excited to see the U.S. represented at the summit:
D.C. Shooting
Five people were shot near Logan Circle, one fatally at a gym, earliy today. Police say the suspect, who apparently had a dispute with his building’s HOA, shot himself while barricaded inside an apartment. Our hearts are with the victims.
Ending on a High Note
Don’t ever forget this feeling. You should be damn proud of the Blue Tsunami. Mississippi’s Senate race has officially been called for Democrat Scott Colom. He’ll be Mississippi’s first Black senator since Blanche K. Bruce during Reconstruction. Before his victory speech, his two daughters led the Pledge of Allegiance. That’s the country we’re fighting for.
If you can, take a moment to read my brother Ben’s note this morning. I found it really inspiring.
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