Good morning. Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away yesterday at her home in Plains, Georgia. She was 96. After four years in the White House (from 1977-1981), the Carters spent more than 40 years on humanitarian work around the world. They were married 77 years — the longest of any president and first lady.

On a lighter note, happy birthday to President Biden! He turns 81 today.

A preview of today’s email:

• Argentina went to the polls.

• Speaker Johnson says he’ll release all January 6 video footage.

• Why are they printing so many $50 bills?

• And much more!

Here’s today’s edition of The Elective:

 WORLD 

Victory in Argentina (for one side)

Anti-establishment libertarian Javier Milei won Argentina’s presidential election yesterday 56%-44%. Argentina is a South American nation of 47 million people with an area about four times the size of Texas. An economist and former television pundit, Milei was first elected to Congress just two years ago.

Depending on who you ask, he’s either a far-right extremist, an ideological libertarian who wants to cut government down to nothing, or a Trump-like populist.

Argentina’s economy is shrinking and its inflation rate is one of the highest in the world at 150%. Think it got bad in the U.S. last year? Imagine the price of everything more than doubling. Milei’s solution involves “economic shock therapy.” He wants to:

• slash government spending

• close the central bank

• adopt the U.S. dollar as Argentina’s official currency (that’s called dollarization — Ecuador, El Salvador, and Panama also use the U.S. dollar)

And he wants to do it quickly. Economics aside, Milei also favors looser gun laws, restrictions on abortion, and wants to lean into Argentina’s relationship with the United States and combat Chinese influence.

His election, with huge support from young voters, can only be described as a massive shake up to the status quo. His vanquished rival, Finance Minister Sergio Massa, has decades of political experience. Argentina went with the new guy (sound familiar?) who literally campaigned with a chainsaw to illustrate his coming budget cuts. Big problems require big solutions — or so Argentinians believe.

What’s next? Milei has his work cut out for him. Since its return to democracy 40 years ago, Argentina’s experienced a boom-and-bust economy. And no single party controls the legislature. But he's already cleared the first hurdle — he just got himself elected president.

 NEWS 

🔥 OpenAI: ChatGPT maker OpenAI fired co-founder and CEO Sam Altman. The company’s board chair and several key researchers have since stepped down as well. Microsoft (a huge OpenAI investor) CEO Satya Nadella is reportedly furious. The firing may be the most shocking personnel decision in Silicon Valley since Apple fired Steve Jobs in 1985. The sudden announcement prompted a still unanswered question: why? Were company finances not what they seem? Did he violate the board’s trust somehow? The company vaguely hinted that Altman lied to the board but provided no details. What happened and what it means for OpenAI’s future is still up in the air.

📼 Jan 6: House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he will release 44,000 hours of video footage taken of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Faces will be blurred for privacy issues and about 5% of the footage will be withheld for building security concerns. The release process will take several months. About 90 hours of footage is already available. You can check that out here. More than 1,100 people have been criminally charged for their roles in the riot. Johnson suggested the release will allow all Americans to come to their own conclusions about what happened that day rather than “having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials.” Our conclusion: how does one building have so many cameras that they film 44,000 hours of footage in a single day?

 POLITICS 

President Biden turns 81 today. He’s been the oldest president in U.S. history since the day he took office (he was 78 then). The previous record was held by President Reagan, who left office just before turning 78. In 2008, Republican nominee John McCain faced questions over his ability to do the job at his advanced age. He was only 72. President Biden's allies believe he’s healthy enough for another four years. But the optics are a challenge and his lingering struggles with a fractured foot don’t help. Polls show Americans think he’s too old. Thankfully for Team Biden, they think Trump is, too. Regardless, don’t expect an open celebration from the White House’s social media accounts today. Last year, they wished him a happy birthday but notably omitted his age.

Republicans dominated in Louisiana’s elections Saturday. No surprise there. Louisiana uses a different electoral system than most states. Rather than party primaries followed by a general election, the Pelican State holds an all-party primary in October. If a candidate in that race grabs more than 50% of the vote, they win. If not, a general election between the top two finishers is held in November. And that’s exactly what went down Saturday. Governor-elect Jeff Landry (R) won in round one last month. A few remaining statewide and legislative races needed a second round. Current Gov. John Bel Edward (D) is retiring due to term limits. When the winners take office in January, Louisiana will, for only the second time since post-Civil War Reconstruction, have no Democrats in statewide office. The other time, in 2015, only lasted one year.

 TRIVIA 

 WORLD 

🇮🇱 Israel and Hamas are reportedly closing in on a deal for a five day ceasefire in exchange for the release of dozens or hundreds of hostages. Hamas took an estimated 240 hostages during their Oct. 7 attack. Only five have so far been released. Hamas’s political leadership is based in the small oil-rich Arab nation of Qatar. Accordingly, the U.S and Qatar are helping broker the agreement. The White House and Israel issued statements saying nothing has been finalized. Protestors around the world have repeatedly called for a permanent end to hostilities. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to end the war only when Hamas has been destroyed.

🇹🇷 Turkey wants to rebuild Gaza if a long-term ceasefire is achieved in the conflict. Turkish President Erdogan said his country will attempt to “rebuild the damaged infrastructure in Gaza and rebuild the destroyed schools, hospitals, water and energy facilities.” He also labelled Israel a “terror state” and called for Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes. Despite recent foreign policy disagreements, Turkey remains a NATO ally of the United States.

 BRIEFS 

💰 An elderly French woman had a painting hanging above her hot plate. Little did she know it was nearly 750 years old. It sold at auction for nearly $27 million. Now it’s headed to the Louvre.

⚖️ A federal judge struck down North Dakota’s state legislative district maps. The ruling says the legislature violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting strength of two Native American tribes.

💵 The government recently printed more $50 bills than they had in 40 years. Why? Economic stimulation. Post-pandemic, people began hoarding $100 bills. And its tougher to hoard smaller bills.

🏎️ Dutch racer Max Verstappen won F1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix over the weekend. That brings his total to an astounding 18 wins out of 21 races thus far. Despite lower ticket sales than expected, the star-studded race went off without a hitch.

👸 Nicaragua' Sheynnis Palacios won the Miss Universe competition Saturday evening in El Salvador. She plans to use her platform to promote positive mental health. This is Nicaragua’s first win.

💻 X could be in financial jeopardy as advertisers flee. Huge companies, including IBM and Disney, are pulling ads from the social media network in response to a post by company owner Elon Musk viewed by some as anti-Semitic.

 QUOTE 

 ANSWER 

1. Ankara (not Istanbul — that’s the largest city)

2. 1923

3. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Though the history of the Turkish people goes back centuries, the Republic of Turkey itself was founded from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War 1.

Note: In 2021 the Turkish government requested English-speakers translate their country’s name as “Türkiye” rather than “Turkey” for obvious reasons. We prefer the old spelling for comedic purposes.