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Jack Smith plans to step down as special counsel before Trump takes office

Jack Smith plans to step down as special counsel before Trump takes office

The New York Times reports: As he prepares for his last act as special counsel, Mr. Smith’s ultimate audience will not be a jury, but the public. Department regulations call for him to file a report summarizing his investigation and decisions — a document that may stand as the final accounting from a prosecutor who filed extensive charges against a former president but never got his cases to trial. It is not clear how quickly he can finish this work,…

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Blow to auto industry: Trump’s transition team aims to kill Biden EV tax credit

Blow to auto industry: Trump’s transition team aims to kill Biden EV tax credit

Reuters reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is planning to kill the $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases as part of broader tax-reform legislation, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Ending the tax credit could have grave implications for an already stalling U.S. EV transition. And yet representatives of Tesla – by far the nation’s largest EV seller – have told a Trump-transition committee they support ending the subsidy, said the two sources, who spoke…

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Elect a clown, expect a circus: Hegseth, Gaetz, and Gabbard

Elect a clown, expect a circus: Hegseth, Gaetz, and Gabbard

Marc Fisher writes: The gasp you may have heard on Tuesday evening was the collective sound of America’s generals and admirals reaching for supplemental oxygen, as they discovered that Donald Trump, the President-elect, had chosen Pete Hegseth as the country’s next Secretary of Defense. Hegseth served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Army National Guard and was the executive director of Vets for Freedom, a conservative advocacy group, but he has not held a senior military role or managed a…

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Musk and Trump: ‘great friends and brilliant leaders working together to Make America Great Again’

Musk and Trump: ‘great friends and brilliant leaders working together to Make America Great Again’

The New York Times reports: In nearly every meeting that President-elect Donald J. Trump holds at Mar-a-Lago, alongside him is someone who has been elected to nothing, nominated to nothing and, only a few months ago, had no meaningful relationship with him. Elon Musk. The world’s richest person has ascended to a position of extraordinary, unofficial influence in Mr. Trump’s transition process, playing a role that makes him indisputably America’s most powerful private citizen. He has sat in on nearly…

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Putin aide issues warning about Trump’s new ‘obligations.’ Russian media welcomes return of Melania

Putin aide issues warning about Trump’s new ‘obligations.’ Russian media welcomes return of Melania

  The New Republic reports: Donald Trump may have secured a second term in the White House, but his Russia problems are far from over—at least according to suspiciously phrased comments by some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies. Speaking with Russian state media on Monday, Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev noted that while the U.S. election may be over, Trump is still beholden to “certain forces.” “To achieve success in the election, Donald Trump relied on certain forces…

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U.S. to keep sending arms to Israel despite dire conditions in Gaza

U.S. to keep sending arms to Israel despite dire conditions in Gaza

The New York Times reports: The State Department said on Tuesday that it did not plan to decrease weapons aid to Israel, as a 30-day deadline set by the Biden administration passed without the country substantially improving the humanitarian situation in war-devastated Gaza. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had warned in a letter dated Oct. 13 that the United States would reassess its military aid to Israel if it failed to increase…

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In an anti-system election, Democrats represented the system

In an anti-system election, Democrats represented the system

  Steve Rose writes: [Gabriel] Gatehouse suggests two factors why Trump won. The first and most obvious, speaking to the Cuban Americans in Little Havana [in Miami], was the cost of living. “A lot of them told me, ‘My grocery bills have gone up exponentially.’ It’s not clear to me what policies Donald Trump offers that will solve that, but it’s quite clear that this is a problem the Democrats haven’t adequately addressed.” For the other reason, he points to…

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Some Arizona Latinos find new home within Republican Party

Some Arizona Latinos find new home within Republican Party

  President-elect Donald J. Trump won Arizona, flipping the swing state back to red. Younger Latino voters, like José Castro, a former Bernie Sanders supporter, were among those who shifted to the right, turning to older Republicans like Gerry Navarro who were ready and willing to welcome him into the party.

The WIRED guide to protecting yourself from government surveillance

The WIRED guide to protecting yourself from government surveillance

Wired reports: President-elect Donald Trump has promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. He’s vowed to jail his political foes and journalists. A Republican-controlled government could further restrict abortion and transgender rights. Influential conservatives have called for a crackdown on left-leaning activist groups, a replay of Trump’s hardline attitude against protesters in his first administration. To carry out all of those spoken and unspoken threats, the incoming Trump administration and Republicans in Congress will tap into—and may very well expand—the…

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Trump picks settlement backer Mike Huckabee as next U.S. ambassador to Israel

Trump picks settlement backer Mike Huckabee as next U.S. ambassador to Israel

The Times of Israel reports: US President-elect Donald Trump announced his decision on Tuesday to nominate former Arkansas governor and longtime backer of the settlement enterprise Mike Huckabee as the next US ambassador to Israel. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!” Trump said in a statement. Huckabee, 69, has been one of the evangelical Christian community’s most ardent…

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Netanyahu might be disappointed in a Trump White House, says former Israeli official

Netanyahu might be disappointed in a Trump White House, says former Israeli official

  As Donald Trump’s administration picks are revealed, the Middle East watches closely for the implications of the new White House in the region. This comes at a time when Israel’s Foreign Minister has rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, while the Saudi Crown Prince has harshly criticized Netanyahu, accusing Israel of ‘genocide’ against Palestinians in Gaza. Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President at The Quincy Institute, and Alon Pinkas, former Israel Consul General in New York, join CNN’s Becky…

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The not-so-secret history of Netanyahu’s support for Hamas

The not-so-secret history of Netanyahu’s support for Hamas

Ghousoon Bisharat writes: When Israeli historian and human rights activist Adam Raz set out to write “The Road to October 7: Benjamin Netanyahu, the Production of the Endless Conflict and Israel’s Moral Degradation,” he knew he was tackling a blind spot in Israeli public discourse. The vast majority of Israelis, Raz believes, fail to grasp the full extent of Netanyahu’s involvement in bolstering Hamas before the current war, and in perpetuating an unending state of conflict. Raz’s book, released in…

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Trump picks ally Lee Zeldin as environment chief and vows to roll back rules

Trump picks ally Lee Zeldin as environment chief and vows to roll back rules

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump has picked Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), vowing the appointment will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions” by the regulator. Trump, who oversaw the rollback of more than 100 environmental rules when he last was US president, said that Zeldin was a “true fighter for America First policies” and that “he will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to…

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Helping Ukraine is Europe’s job now

Helping Ukraine is Europe’s job now

Phillips Payson O’Brien writes: Europeans should pay Donald Trump the compliment of believing what he does and says, not what they desperately want to hear. He has clearly indicated that he wants the United States out of the Ukraine war as soon as possible. Both the president-elect and his most important supporter, Elon Musk, have reportedly been in frequent contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vice President–elect J. D. Vance has outlined a “peace” deal with Ukraine that would serve…

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The U.S. could soon face a threat ‘more powerful’ than nuclear weapons

The U.S. could soon face a threat ‘more powerful’ than nuclear weapons

Ashish K. Jha, Matt Pottinger and Matthew McKnight write: President Richard M. Nixon’s bold 1969 decision to renounce biological weapons and spearhead a treaty to ban them helped contain the threat of a man-made pandemic for half a century. But our inheritance from Nixon is now fading. And in this age of synthetic biology, unless we act quickly to deter our adversaries from making and using bioweapons, we could face disaster in the near future. The nightmare of a biological…

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Fallibilism can break America’s political fever

Fallibilism can break America’s political fever

Kwame Anthony Appiah writes: I want to make the case for the power of thinking in the third person. The first person, of course, comes quite naturally to us. We have a vivid sense of our experiences and perspectives: This is who and what I am. People will live their lives with “main character energy.” Yet, with a little more work, we can also view ourselves the way historians and social scientists might: as creatures shaped by larger forces and…

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