Good morning and welcome back! We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday. And we hope you’re still enjoying leftover turkey, stale rolls, and solidified gravy. Eating past-their-prime holiday leftovers is a national pastime.

It’s been a busy week for news around the world, so let’s dive in. A preview of today’s email:

• The Dutch made their decision

• Every vote really does count

• Attack of the super pigs

• And much more!

Here’s today’s edition of The Elective:

 NETHERLANDS 

Upheaval in the Netherlands

Last Wednesday’s election in the Netherlands handed a huge victory to populist Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (because who would vote against Freedom?). After a string of defeats since founding the party in 2006, Wilders now controls a plurality of seats in the States General (that’s the Dutch parliament).

Who is this guy? Geert Wilders is variously described as far-right, populist, anti-Islam, anti-immigration, and the Dutch Donald Trump. He would probably just call himself pro-Netherlands.

• He wants the Netherlands to leave the European Union (Brexit 2.0?)

• He’s not a fan of his country granting asylum to refugees

• In the past, he’s called for closing all mosques in the country. But that’s among the many positions he (somehow) softened ahead of last week’s elections.

His victory shocked the genteel European political establishment and is the latest in a string of far-right (or regular right, depending on your perspective) victories in Europe.

Why the election? Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (moderately conservative and pro-EU) has held power since 2010. But his government (his coalition in the parliament) broke up recently over immigration policy disagreements. Rutte’s retiring from Dutch politics…and trying to get the job running NATO. With his government in shambles, a new election (called a snap election) was ordered. Parliamentary systems are weird that way — elections aren’t always held on a rigid schedule like in the U.S.

Victory: “A plurality” doesn’t sound like much. But no Dutch party has won an absolute majority in over a century. And with a whopping 15 parties elected to parliament, Wilder’s control of 25% of seats seems that much sweeter (for his supporters, at least — not so much for the opposition).

The future: The prime minister is elected by parliament. And legally, appointed by King Willem-Alexander. But getting there requires majority support. And that’s not guaranteed. With control split 15 ways, the wheeling and dealing required to cobble together a majority coalition could take a while (especially with many parties refusing to partner with Wilders at all). So ole Geert shouldn’t expect the big promotion any time soon — it took the last guy a cool 157 days of haggling to get there.

WORLD

🇳🇿 New Zealand: Middle Earth has a new prime minister in businessman Christopher Luxon. He’s the former CEO of Air New Zealand and the Canadian branch of Unilever (they own everything from Dove to Ben & Jerry’s). Elections last month saw the center-right National Party win a plurality of seats in Parliament. Friday, they signed an agreement with two smaller parties — both different flavors of conservative — to form a majority together. The agreement forces Luxon to make a few policy concessions to his coalition partners. It also means (strangely) the leaders of the two smaller parties will rotate in and out as deputy prime minister. Since the King of New Zealand (Charles III) actually lives 11,000 miles away in London, Luxon was sworn in this morning by His Majesty's local representative, the governor-general.

🇮🇪 Ireland: Protestors rampaged in Dublin late last week. Police arrested thirty-four after rioters looted stores and torched vehicles. The protests came after a knife attack seriously injured a woman and three young children. The perpetrator is believed to be an Irish citizen of foreign birth. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (himself the son of an Indian immigrant) vowed to bring both the rioters and attacker to justice. This is not the first prominent crime committed by an immigrant in Ireland. An Iraqi man was convicted last month of two murders. And a Slovakian immigrant was also recently convicted of murdering a young Irish teacher. But during last week’s knife attack, a Brazilian man physically intervened to help stop the crime. Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor (of all people) is leading the charge of those angry over immigration levels and the government’s allegedly weak response to these crimes. Said McGregor, "If they do not act soon with their plan of action to ensure Ireland’s safety, I will.”

 POLITICS 

🔵 Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips is doubling down on his long-shot Democratic primary challenge to President Biden. He announced he will not run for reelection to Congress next year. Minnesota’s congressional primaries are not held until the presidential nominee is likely to be decided. So conventional wisdom suggested Phillips would run for reelection if (when?) his presidential candidacy flamed out. On the Republican side, his campaign could cause problems for the (relative) moderate candidates — namely, Chris Christie and Nikki Haley. Independents can vote in either party’s primary in New Hampshire. And some Republicans worry those independents will vote in the Democratic primary for Phillips rather than for an anti-Trump Republican.

⚪ Think your vote doesn’t count? Henry Whitehorn won his election for Caddo Parish, LA sheriff by one vote. Out of 43,000 total votes, a single, solitary ballot decided the winner. There will, of course, be a hand recount.

🔴 Republicans are getting creative in Arizona. They’re lending a helping hand to Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema's running for reelection next year in what's shaping up to be a three way race. And she's doing it with twice as much support from Republican voters as Democratic ones. That's bad news for Republicans. They need their voters supporting their candidate, not a former Democrat. What's the solution? Air ads casually reminding voters that Sinema is a nice, Biden-supporting liberal while Ruben Gallego (the likely Democratic nominee) is so horrible that no good person could ever support him.

 TRIVIA 

 BRIEFS 

🏳️ Minnesota’s flag sucks (as do most state flags). It also features an offensive depiction of a Native American. So they’re redesigning it. And, you guessed it, the six finalist designs also suck (but in less offensive ways).

🐷 We're being invaded! Super pigs, fresh off dominating Canada are now threatening to wreak havoc on the U.S. side of the border. Pigs are not native to North America. And these particular swine have adapted to survive harsh winters, avoid hunters, and destroy farmland. RIP North Dakota.

🖋️ Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons (a former county sheriff) is on a hot streak. A hot streak of granting pardons, that is. He’s wiped the slate clean for more than 600 people in the past three years.

🇿🇦 South African athlete Oscar Pistorius (aka “Blade Runner” for his prosthetic legs) will be paroled Jan. 5 after spending 10 years in prison for murdering his girlfriend. His case was the media’s big trial-of-the-moment back in 2014.

🚑 Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020, was stabbed in prison. He is expected to survive. Chauvin recently sought to appeal his conviction based on alleged new evidence but was denied.

 QUOTE 

 ANSWER 

These fifteen countries are called “Commonwealth realms.” And they’re all completely sovereign and independent. Though Charles is in charge, the King of the United Kingdom is not. In other countries, he’s known as King of Jamaica, King of New Zealand, etc. Here’s the list:

1. 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda

2. 🇦🇺 Australia

3. 🇧🇸 Bahamas

4. 🇧🇿 Belize

5. 🇨🇦 Canada

6. 🇬🇩 Grenada

7. 🇯🇲 Jamaica

8. 🇳🇿 New Zealand

9. 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea

10. 🇰🇳 St. Kitts and Nevis

11. 🇱🇨 St. Lucia

12. 🇻🇨 St. Vincent and the Grenadines

13. 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands

14. 🇹🇻 Tuvalu

15. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom