Good morning and congratulations to the Texas Rangers. They beat the Arizona Diamondbacks last night to win their first ever World Series. Political fun fact for those unaware: former President George W. Bush once co-owned the Rangers.

In today’s email:

• Israel’s foreign policy problems

• Disney buys Hulu

• Could RFK, Jr. win?

• And much more!

Here’s today’s issue of The Elective:

 ISRAEL 

Israel’s foreign relation problems grow

Israel’s got some growing foreign relations problems as world leaders continue to condemn their response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.

Jordan: Jordan recalled its ambassador from Israel in response to the ongoing “humanitarian catastrophe” caused by “the raging Israeli war on Gaza” according to their foreign minister (aka: their secretary of state). President Biden spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II (who holds actual power) about the crisis and the need to protect innocent civilian lives in Gaza. Jordan is an officially designated "major non-NATO ally” of the United States.

Turkey: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan keeps attacking Israel. At a pro-Palestinian rally, he called Israel a “war criminal” and later added “I believe that we should stop Israel.” Erdogan previously said he does not consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. Turkey was the first Muslim-majority nation to recognize Israel’s independence back in 1949. But their relations have been strained since Erdogan took power. The two countries restored full diplomatic ties in 2022 before Israel pulled its diplomats out of Turkey last week. Turkey is a member of NATO and ally of the United States.

South America: In response to the conflict, Bolivia severed diplomatic ties with Israel. Those ties were only restored in 2020 after previously being severed in 2009 (bit of a yo-yo relationship, it seems). Colombia and Chile both recalled their ambassadors but stopped short of fully severing ties. All three countries issued statements of varying intensity condemning Israel. President Biden named Colombia a “major non-NATO ally” last year.

Egypt: Egypt’s prime minister said his country was prepared to “sacrifice millions of lives” to protect its territory as it continues refusing to take in refugees from Gaza. Egypt controls the only open border crossing into or out of Gaza (the other two, controlled by Israel, are closed for obvious reasons). Egypt’s Rafah crossing has been closed since the war began with only aid trucks being allowed to cross. But as of yesterday, foreigners (including Americans) are allowed to escape into Egypt. A limited number of “severely wounded” Gazans will also be allowed treatment at nearby Egyptian field hospitals.

 NEWS 

🇸🇻 El Salvador: Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s bitcoin-loving president, is extremely popular. A recent poll puts his support at 68%. His nearest opponent gets 4% (yes, you read that right). And he’s officially running for reelection next year. Critics claim the Central American country’s constitution bans presidents from running for back-to-back terms. But the Supreme Court issued a decision in 2021 overturning that precedent. Bukele, 42, founded his own political party in 2017 (the New Ideas party) and members of that party now control the legislature that appoints members of the court. So his critics are not without merit. But those poll results speak for themselves. His popularity came after a crackdown on violent crime took (by some estimates) El Salvador from the most dangerous country in the world to the one with the highest incarceration rate.

💰 Disney: Hulu is currently co-owned by Disney and Comcast (NBC’s parent). But Disney announced Wednesday they plan to buy Comcast’s portion (33%) of the streamer for at least $8.6 billion. When Disney bought Fox in 2019 and became majority owners of Hulu, they came to an agreement with Comcast that meant either company could force full ownership onto Disney in early 2024. That agreement created a minimum sale price of $8.6 billion. But it could be worth significantly more today. The parties will decide on an updated “fair market value" before the deal closes sometime next year. Disney hasn’t said what it plans to do with the purchase. But adult-oriented content that’s on Hulu in the US is on Disney+ worldwide.

🇦🇫 Afghanistan / 🇵🇰 Pakistan: Pakistan has begun making arrests in their immigration crackdown. Of the 4 million Afghans living in neighboring Pakistan, an estimated 1.7 million are "undocumented." Many have lived there for decades. Tensions between the countries have flared recently with violent spats along the border. Pakistan gave the migrants a November 1 deadline to go home. But some say they face "death" upon return to Taliban-run Afghanistan. Others claim they've been targeted despite having legal documentation. Human rights groups are criticizing the policy but Pakistan's government maintains it has a right to control its borders.

🇺🇸 Kentucky: Tragedy struck Tuesday evening in rural Kentucky. An 11-story building at an abandoned coal mine collapsed during demolition. One worker is dead and another remains trapped as of last night.

 POLITICS 

⚪ Research group Morning Consult released public approval ratings for all 50 governors. Topping the list is Vermont's Phill Scott (R) with 83% of voters saying they like the job he's doing. Bringing up the rear is Oregon's Tina Kotek (D) with 44%. But even Kotek is still above water — her disapproval rating is only 41%. So she's still sitting at +3%. Not bad for last place! Check out the list to see where your governor's sitting.

⚪ Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. got some good polling news. A new poll shows the Kennedy family scion (he's JFK's nephew) with 22% support compared to Biden’s 39% and Trump’s 36%. Sure, it’s a distant third place. But no third-party (or independent) candidate has received that much of the vote since 1912. Even then, the third-party candidate was former President Theodore Roosevelt. Is Kennedy likely to be the next president? No. He has a history of promoting conspiracy theories and third-party candidates do much better in polls than in actual elections. But polls like this lend credence to the idea that a lot of voters want a candidate who is neither Trump nor Biden.

🔴 Speaker Mike Johnson probably has less than $1,000 in his checking and savings accounts. Members of Congress are required to disclose all sorts of financial information. But Johnson's form last year didn’t list any bank accounts at all. The likely explanation isn’t that he doesn’t have bank accounts. It’s that his accounts don’t hit the legal minimum $1,000 balance required for disclosure. Members of the House and Senate earn $174,000 per year. The Speaker brings in $223,500. And while some of them are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, many more are actually in debt.

🔴 Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves snagged the endorsement of former President Trump yesterday. Reeves is in a tight (for Mississippi) reelection battle with Elvis’s second cousin, Brandon Presley (Mississippi was the King’s home state). Reeves only won by 5 points last time around but Trump won the state by 17 in 2020. Mississippi is one of the most consistently Republican states in the country. But it's sharply divided along racial lines so the Republican margin is often small. The election is next week.

 TRIVIA 

 BRIEFS 

📱 Apple faces a ~$2 billion lawsuit in the UK. It claims Apple throttled older phones to hide bad batteries. Apple denies this (obviously) but they recently lost a similar $500 million US case.

📺 Netflix’s ad tier is getting a little better. After binging three episodes in a row, you’ll soon get a fourth one ad-free. Netflix recently raised prices on their ad-free plans but kept the ad-tier price the same. Relevant info: they make more money from the cheaper ad-supported subscriptions.

🎓 A Cornell University student was arrested after allegedly posting a message threatening to murder Jewish students. If convicted, he could spend five years in prison.

🔌 Subaru's electric cars will use Tesla's charging standard and have access to Tesla's huge global network of public chargers. Many other car companies have made the same decision -- Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, GM, BMW, Mercedes, and more.

🐦 Huge bird news: the official bird people (aka the American Ornithological Society) are renaming dozens of bird species. They’re axing the ones named after people and replacing them with more descriptive names.

 ANSWER 

North Dakota and South Dakota

Extra Credit: They’re officially states 39 and 40. But President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the signing papers around so nobody actually knows which one got in first (they’re just numbered alphabetically). Within the next nine days, two more states were added — Montana and Washington.