Donald Trump Returns as 47th President of the United States
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Newsbites
Trump picks Chief of Staff: President-elect Donald Trump has picked Susan Wiles to be his White House Chief of Staff. In his announcement, Trump described her as being “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected.” Wiles, a 67-year-old grandmother, was Trump’s campaign manager in the 2024 race. She became well-known in political circles after helping then-unknown Rick Scott win his governor race in Florida in 2010. She also helped run Ron DeSantis’ campaign for FL governor in 2018. She will be the first woman to fill the White House Chief of Staff position.
More: The Chief of Staff is considered one of the most important roles in a president’s administration. Wiles will be Trump’s top aide advising on policy, serving as the manager of the White House, and leading the Executive Office staff including daily operations and schedule.Israel sent planes to Amsterdam to pick up a number of their citizens after violence erupted at the professional soccer match between an Israeli and Dutch team. The Dutch Prime Minister condemned the attacks as antisemitic and intentional. Five people were hospitalized and 62 police arrests were made. It is unclear what incited the violence, but police had been warning of increased tensions before the match. (read more)
Boeing reached an agreement with its labor union this week, bringing an end to the 2-month strike that was putting significant pressure on the plane maker. The two sides agreed to a 38% wage increase over the course of four years, only slightly lower than the union’s original goal (40%). Of the union members that voted on the proposal, 59% approved. While the end of the strike will allow 737 and other jet production to resume, Boeing continues to face challenges with its cash flow, employee layoffs, and ongoing federal safety investigations.
The Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has ended the controversial program that gave prepaid debit cards to asylum seekers for city-funded hotels and to buy food and other items. Since the launch of the program in March 2024, NYC has given around $3.2M to roughly 2,600 migrant families. “As we move towards more competitive contracting for asylum seeker programs, we have chosen not to renew the emergency contract for this pilot program once the one-year term concludes,” his office said in a statement.
Black and Hispanic men supported Trump at a much higher rate than past Republican presidential candidates. 54% of Hispanic men voted for Trump this election, compared to 36% in 2020. According to PewResearch, going back to 1980, a Republican candidate had never received more than 40% of the Hispanic vote. In addition, 20% of black men voted for Trump versus 13% in 2020. (see more below in the main story)
Kamala Harris concedes: Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage at her Alma Mater, Howard University, to close out her campaign. “While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” Harris told an energetic crowd of mostly college students. Harris told supporters that she called President-elect Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him and to begin the peaceful transition of power. She continued, “when we fight, we win. But sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up.”
More: President Biden called Trump to congratulate him and schedule a meeting in the White House to begin a “peaceful and orderly” transition. Biden also held a press conference at the White House to discuss the election results.
Initial data suggest voter participation lower than 2020: As of Friday (Nov. 8), about 144M ballots had been counted, about 15M fewer compared to 2020. However, there are an estimated ~9M ballots that have yet to be counted (the majority of which are in California). Even after factoring in the 9M ballots, the voter turnout is expected to still be about 5.5M (-4%) less than 2020.
Graphic of the week: Global population visualized by proportions (via Reddit).
Donald Trump Returns as 47th President of the United States
Resounding victory
Donald Trump won a resounding victory on Tuesday, earning 312 electoral votes and carrying the popular vote 73M to 69M (as of today). It was the first time a Republican candidate has won the popular vote since George W. Bush in 2004. It was also one of the most diverse voting bases for a Republican candidate in modern history, with Trump gaining significant support among Hispanic and black men.
“This is a magnificent victory for the American people,” Trump told supporters at 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning. “This truly will be the golden age of America.” Behind Trump stood his entire family, J.D. Vance and his family, as well as some of Trump’s close friends, such as Dana White and Bryson DeChambeau. (full speech)
The victory makes Trump just the second president to reclaim the White House four years later after losing a re-election bid. The only other president to do so was Grover Cleveland in 1893.
In what was supposed to be a razor thin race according to the polls, Trump not only won all of the swing states, he also won the popular vote and Republicans flipped the majority in the Senate and are expected to retain their majority in the House.
Trump won all seven swing states - Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona. Apart from North Carolina, all of the swing states went to Biden in 2020.
The election marks another setback for the legacy news media and pollsters that failed to predict the result, similar to 2016.
Democrat party in shock and frustrated
Compared to 2020, Kamala Harris failed to outperform Joe Biden by 3% or more in any state. Further, Harris only outperformed Biden by 3% or more in 58 of the 4,600 counties across the entire U.S.
“This is a historic disaster of Biblical proportions,” Chris Kofinis, a Democrat Strategist, told the Wall Street Journal. “The Democratic Party, as it is, is dead. This is a historic realignment. There were Reagan Democrats. Now there are Trump Democrats.”
“The elites of this country alienated voters everywhere because they didn’t want to hear what working- and middle-class voters were screaming for four years—focus on us and our problems, not your agenda to destroy Trump,” Kofinis added.
Here are some of the key highlights of how groups voted for Trump
He improved his support among black and Hispanic men
Trump won the 54% of the male Hispanic vote -- a 18% jump from 2020. In 2020, Joe Biden won the male Hispanic vote 59% to Trump’s 36%. Trump also garnered the votes of 21% of black men -- a 2% improvement from 2020.
Hispanic support for Trump grew a lot
Trump won 46% of the Hispanic vote -- a 14% jump from 2020. In addition to getting the majority of Hispanic male votes, 36% of Hispanic women supported Trump -- an 8% increase from 2020.
Trump support grew among non-college degree Americans
Trump garnered 56% from Americans without college degrees -- a 6% increase from 2020.
Insight: See the full list of exit poll data from Reuters here.
Republicans gain control of the Senate and likely the House
Senate Picture
While some races are still too close to call, the Republican Party flipped at least 4 seats and will now hold at least a 53-seat majority in the Senate, compared to a 49-seat minority before the election.
House of Representatives Picture
Entering the election, Republicans held a 220 - 212 seat majority (with 3 seats vacant) in the House. With Tuesday’s elections, which involved races for all 435 seats (Representatives are elected every 2 years), Republicans are expected to retain and likely increase their majority. As of Friday, a number of races had not yet been called, however.
Gubernatorial Races
There were 11 governor elections across the U.S. The incumbent party won re-election in each state, leaving the balance at 27 Republican governors to 23 Democratic governors.
Some Key Moments of the 2024 Campaign That Helped Propel Trump
Having closely watched the 2024 election, below are some moments The News Memo, along with other political observers, see as important moments for Trump’s campaign.
Debate Against President Biden (June 27). Following Biden’s poor debate performance, leaders with the Democratic party and DNC pressured Biden to step down. Shortly after, they appointed Kamala Harris as the nominee without holding a formal primary.
Butler PA Assassination Attempt (July 13). The iconic photo of Donald Trump raising his fist moments after getting shot was a rallying point for his supporters and gained him sympathy across a wider base of Americans.
Musk’s Endorsement: Within hours of the assassination attempt, Elon Musk endorsed Trump. Musk’s operational and financial support would turn out to be significant as the race progressed. In an interview on election night, Musk explained how he helped the Trump Campaign focus on their ground game, especially in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, they did outreach to the Amish community, encouraged people to register to vote, and helped coordinate transportation to the polls for those without means.
RFK Jr. & Others Endorse Trump (August 23). A lifelong Democrat, RFK Jr. endorsed Trump on August 23 and coined the slogan “Make America Healthy Again” as part of the campaign message. As The News Memo wrote at the time, RFK Jr. was consistently receiving 5-6% support in national polls before he backed Trump. The absence of a meaningful third-party candidate in the 2024 race made a difference. For contrast, in 2016, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received 3.3% of the vote nationally. Following RFK Jr.’s endorsement, Trump also received backing from Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat.
J.D. Vance Debate With Walz (October 1): Trump initially received some criticism for his selection of Vance as his running mate. However, Vance’s October 1 debate against Tim Walz helped boost voters’ perception of Vance and the Trump ticket.
Podcast Tour: Over the last few months of his campaign, Trump joined several prominent podcasts for interviews, which generated significant publicity. Many observers have hypothesized the podcast tour helped him reach younger male voters, a core consumer of the podcasts Trump attended. The podcast circuit concluded with the Joe Rogan Experience on October 26, after which Rogan endorsed Trump. Below are some of the interviews/events that gained the most traction (not including views across X, Spotify, etc.).
Joe Rogan Podcast (46M views on YouTube)
Theo Von Podcast (14M views on YouTube)
Golfing with Bryson DeChambeau (13M views on YouTube)
Andrew Schulz Podcast (8M views on YouTube)
Lex Fridman Podcast (6M views on YouTube)
10 More Movies Worth Your Time
Stop following the algorithms. Watch these movies instead. A News Memo Culture Piece.
In case you missed it, we published this full piece yesterday.
The Bridges of Madison County (1965)
Note: A film set in farm country Iowa featuring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. Simple, beautiful scenery provides the backdrop for more complex questions and dialogues about human freedom, love, and happiness.
American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders (2024)
Note: In 1991, investigative reporter Danny Casolaro mysteriously died in a Sheraton hotel in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Casolaro was nearing the completion of his book, “The Octopus", which sought to prove far-reaching scandals between government officials, the intelligence community, and organized crime. Excellent four-part docuseries that raises more questions than answers.
When Harry Met Sally
Note: Based in the 1990’s, Harry and Sally immediately despise one another on first impression. As the years go on, both date and seek love in casual and unsatisfying ways but continually bump into each other. Their love slowly grows as they grow older—a beautiful and funny film.
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