THE SHOW NOTES: What's Better For The GOP?

Welcome! Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro just moved Christmas to October in consolation for stealing an election.

NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong-Un just executed about 30 officials following catastrophic flooding.

LOL: Philadelphia Eagles deny endorsing Kamala Harris after fake ads pop up around Philly - NBC

11 MONTHS LATER: US charges Hamas leader in connection with Oct. 7 massacre in Israel - Politico

MUST WATCH: Go watch Chris Cuomo’s opening remarks on the murder of Israeli hostages.

HEADLINE: Biden administration to accuse Russia of sustained effort to influence 2024 election - CNN

OUTRAGE: A Haitian migrant who flew into the US last year via the Biden administration's controversial CHNV mass parole program was arrested by police in Massachusetts last week for allegedly molesting a 10-year-old boy who lives near him. - Bill Melugin

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POLITICO: The GOP Is Actually Better Off if Kamala Harris Wins

Jonathan Martin at Politico is making waves this morning with a piece titled, The GOP Is Actually Better Off if Kamala Harris Wins. While I am not endorsing this position, it is worth a read:

The best possible outcome in November for the future of the Republican Party is for former President Donald Trump to lose and lose soundly. GOP leaders won’t tell you that on the record. I just did.

…

Harris is effectively an emergency nominee, has few policy proposals, scant governing history in Washington and a history of churning through staff. Oh, and she would be the first Democrat to enter the presidency since 1884 without majorities in both chambers, should Republicans flip the Senate.

That adds up to a recipe for gridlock — and perhaps some deal-making to fund the government and avoid across-the-board tax hikes — but not a Scandinavian social welfare state.

2026 would represent the sixth year of one party holding the presidency, always a promising midterm for the opposition. Those conditions, along with a diminished, twice-defeated Trump, would make it easier for Republicans to recruit Senate candidates.

Full story at Politico.

Opposing US Steel

Kamala Harris has joined Donald Trump and JD Vance in opposing the Japanese acquisition of US Steel by telling supporters in Pittsburg that “U.S. Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated.”

Nippon Steel has proposed a $14.1 billion investment that would keep the company under US management and prioritize domestic steel production. However, despite commitments to keep the collective-bargaining agreement in place with the United Steelworkers, union officials have lobbied Washington to block the merger so that an acquisition by the union-friendly Cleveland-Cliffs would be more likely. As the Editorial Board at The Wall Street Journal put it, this is historically dumb because the lack of competition would skyrocket prices for consumers.

A sign of the rotten political times is that President Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and JD Vance all agree on the dumbest economic idea of the presidential campaign so far: opposing Nippon Steel’s $14.1 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel.

We’ll admit that the competition for the dumbest economic policy is fierce these days—with prices controls on food, a 10% across-the-board tariff, and national rent control on the table. But opposition to the Nippon deal deserves careful consideration for this distinct dishonor given the deal’s manifest benefits and nonexistent harm.

Here’s the important part:

The union has nonetheless lobbied the Administration to block the deal because it prefers a takeover by Cleveland-Cliffs, a union shop like U.S. Steel. The union wants to create a domestic cartel shielded from competition by the Trump-Biden 25% steel tariffs.

Yikes.

Gen Z

Nearly half of Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 would vote for Kamala Harris with only 1 in 3 claiming to vote for Trump. While the data sounds bad, this is an underperformance for Harris compared to Biden’s 60% win among this demographic in 2020.

When Did Kamala Harris Develop A Southern Accent?

Trending news:

• Trump admits he lost 2020 election ‘by a whisker’ during Lex Fridman podcast - Independent

• Meta's Oversight Board rules that 'from the river to the sea' is not necessarily hate speech - NBC

• CNN polls across six battlegrounds find Georgia and Pennsylvania are key toss-ups - CNN

• Tucker Carlson Starstruck By Historian Who Calls Churchill, Not Hitler, the ‘Chief Villain’ of WW2 and Casts Holocaust as Accident - Mediaite

• How Trump Created a Rift With, and Within, the Anti-Abortion Movement - NOTUS

• Harris to propose tenfold startup tax incentive increase she says will spur small business creation - AP

• A former New York official is accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government. Here’s a timeline of her alleged actions - CNN

• The Girl Scouts sued wife of North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson over nearly $3,000 in “money owed”–and won - Chalkbook

• US Navy warship commander relieved of duty following image of him shooting rifle with scope mounted backward - Fox News

• Brian Stelter back at CNN 2 years after he was fired during network shakeup: ‘Yes, really’ - NY Post

• F-22, F-35, B-2 Bomber’s Sensitive Data Leaked To China, Russia & Iran; US State Department Fines RTX Corp - EurAsian

• Why Greenwich, Connecticut, Is Being Treated Like a Community Left Behind - NOTUS

• Harris campaign dodges over EV mandate walkback - Axios

• Warren Buffett Bought These 2 Stocks. Should You? - MorningStar

• Huge police presence at Barrow County school - AJC

Market snapshot: