politics

Summary

Donald Trump narrowly won the 2024 presidential election, securing the smallest popular vote margin for a victor in modern U.S. history, with just 1.6% over Kamala Harris.

Despite his win, Democrats performed unexpectedly well in down-ballot races, flipping Senate seats in swing states Trump carried and maintaining the House balance.

Republicans lack a clear mandate as Trump’s plans for deportations, ending birthright citizenship, political retribution, and tariffs clash with voters’ hopes for economic relief.

There’s likely to be backlash as voters realize the gap between what they wanted and what Trump plans to deliver.

Summary

Sen. Lindsey Graham defended Matt Gaetz, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, saying allegations of sexual misconduct should not disqualify him based on “a media report.”

Gaetz denies the claims, which include sexual misconduct with a high school student, drug use, and improper gifts, asserting they were part of an extortion plot.

While the FBI convicted someone for extortion related to the allegations, Gaetz was not charged.

Some Senate Republicans, like Sen. John Cornyn, are pressing for the release of a bipartisan House Ethics Committee report on the matter.

Summary

Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, previously resigned from the Connecticut State Board of Education in 2009 after falsely claiming she held a degree in education.

McMahon, co-founder of WWE and former head of the Small Business Administration, holds a degree in French and a teaching certificate.

Her nomination has drawn criticism for her lack of public education experience and alignment with Trump’s policies, including rolling back LGBTQ+ protections under Title IX.

If confirmed, McMahon will oversee contentious student loan forgiveness battles and Trump’s push to dismantle the Department of Education.

Pennsylvania officials gathered at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Wednesday to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance. It was a means of memorializing transgender Americans and Pennsylvanians who died by violence or suicide in the past year.

For context, at least one of the girls was below the age of consent

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has offered President-elect Donald Trump the use of a 1,402-acre ranch in Starr County, on the U.S.-Mexico border, for the construction of deportation facilities.

Buckingham, a Republican, made the offer in a letter sent to Trump on Tuesday in which she pledged to support what she described as "the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation's history."

Summary

The North Carolina House passed a controversial bill allocating $227 million for Hurricane Helene relief while including provisions to reduce powers of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general.

Critics, including Democrats, called it a “power grab,” citing changes like stripping the governor’s control over the State Board of Elections and limiting the attorney general’s ability to challenge state laws or advocate for utility customers.

Republicans defended the bill as necessary, but some GOP lawmakers opposed it.

The bill now heads to the Senate and may face a gubernatorial veto.

Butthead took his sex workers to “Pretty Woman”.

Remember, when Dukakis lost the presidential election because he sat in a tank?

A group of around 50 activists were arrested on Capitol Hill on Tuesday while calling for an arms embargo on Israel and urging US senators to vote for a bill that would block a $20 billion weapons package to Israel.

The demonstration of more than 100 activists from a broad coalition of different groups, including Palestinians, Jews, climate advocates, veterans and indigenous people, took place in the atrium of the Senate Hart Office Building one day before senators vote on the bill.

The measure, called the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, a series of resolutions introduced by Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch of Vermon, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, would block around $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel that was put forth by President Joe Biden's administration.

Transgender women will not be permitted to use women’s restrooms in parts of the U.S. Capitol complex, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday, following some House Republicans’ targeting of the first openly trans person to win a congressional election.

The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee failed Wednesday to reach agreement on whether to release findings from its nearly finished investigative report on former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

Forty Democrat women sent a scathing letter Wednesday calling on state party Chair Mike Schmuhl to take action following another case of sexual harassment.

“The truth is that from a legal perspective, these resolutions are not complicated,” Sanders said during a press conference Tuesday, alongside Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Peter Welch, D-Vt.; and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. “They are cut and dry. The United States government is currently in violation of the law, and every member of the Senate who believes in the rule of law should vote for these resolutions.”

Despite aid groups reporting that Israel has continued to block humanitarian aid into Gaza, the White House overlooked the blown deadline last week, saying that it will continue to provide weapons to Israel. The decision stands in direct violation of existing U.S. law preventing the government from sending weapons to countries that block U.S.-backed humanitarian assistance.

With the Biden administration unwilling to act and legislation targeting pro-Palestinian nonprofits still advancing, pro-Palestinian advocates and their allies in Congress argue that passing the joint resolutions is likely the last real opportunity for Democrats to address the crisis in Gaza before Republicans take control in January.

Despite Democrats’ unwillingness to vote for conditioning military aid to Israel in the past, Araabi hopes that at least some of the lame-duck senators who won’t be returning in January will take this opportunity to cement an anti-genocide record.