Good morning! Sometimes reporters ask politicians difficult questions. Sometimes they ask absurdly easy questions. New York City Mayor Eric Adams got the latter…and still goofed (in multiple ways). A reporter asked him to “sum up” 2023 in “one word.” Adams offered two: “New York.”

He followed up with this humdinger: “This is a place where every day you wake up, you could experience everything from a plane crashing into our Trade Center to a person who’s celebrating a new business that’s open. This is a very, very complicated city, and that’s why it’s the greatest city on the globe.” Yikes.

We’ve got a lot in store today:

• Trump gets the boot in Colorado

• The end of (the new) Apple Watch

• Turning $4.6 million into $165

• And much more!

Here’s today’s edition of The Elective:

 2024 

Trump gets booted from the ballot in Colorado

This won’t be controversial at all. In a 4-3 ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court kicked former President Trump off the state's 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot. Using a clause of the 14th Amendment, they deemed him ineligible for the presidency.

What's the 14th Amendment say? The relevant portion is this chunk of Section 3, called the insurrection clause. It has only ever been used in the 1800s against former Confederates.

• “No person shall...hold any office...under the United States...who, having previously taken an oath...to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same...”

This entire case boils down to defining his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Colorado says he "engaged in insurrection." Trump, of course, disagrees.

What happens next? The court stayed (paused) its ruling until Jan. 4 or until the U.S. Supreme Court makes its own decision. But they said it needs to be settled by Jan. 5 -- that's the deadline for the state to print the ballots for its March 5 primary. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on this part of the Constitution.

What's the Republican response? Trump's presidential rivals are in a politically awkward position, here. They issued varying levels of disagreements with the court.

• Vivek Ramaswamy vowed to remove his own name from the Colorado primary ballot unless Trump's is allowed to remain.

• Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Chris Christie denounced the decision without going quite as far.

Zoom out: Trump's legal issues will likely continue to be news through the entirety of 2024. Similar cases have been filed in other states but none have yet been successful.

Trump probably doesn’t need Colorado’s delegates to win the Republican nomination. And, should he win the nomination, Trump wouldn't need Colorado to win the White House — no Republican has won the state in a presidential race since 2004. But he doesn't want this reading of the 14th Amendment to spread. The real story will come when the U.S. Supreme Court makes its decision.

 NEWS 

🍎 Apple: In October, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple violated the patents of medical tech company Masimo. As a result, the ITC said it would ban the import of the 2023 line of Apple Watch (the Series 9 and Ultra 2) starting Dec. 26 (they're manufactured overseas). The technology at issue here is the watch's blood oxygen sensor. Apple just announced it would comply and remove the watches from stores this week and appeal the decision. But that's a lengthy process. Unless President Biden personally intervenes, say goodbye to the newest Apple Watch (in the U.S.). Longer term, Apple can either pay up or wait a bit — Masimo's patents expire in 2028.

🚂 Border: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) closed two railroad bridges from Mexico into Texas this week. The CBP says large smuggling groups are illegally moving migrants across the border "via freight trains." From Oct. 2022-Sept. 2023, the federal government counted 2.5 million "encounters" with migrants on the southern border. The two closed bridges account for more than one-third of all U.S.-Mexico rail traffic. Railroad representatives said supply chain impacts will compound each day the closures continue.

⚒️ Steel: Japan's Nippon Steel will buy Pittsburgh's U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion...if the government lets them. The prosal is facing bipartisan backlash in Washington. Three Republican senators want the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (aka CFIUS) to review the deal. CFIUS has the authority to stop it on national security grounds. Pennsylvania's two Democratic senators are vowing to intervene on behalf of union steelworkers. U.S. Steel was founded in 1901 by Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan.

 POLITICS 

Former Republican presidential candidate South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is a popular man. Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Chris Christie have all reached out to Scott asking for his endorsement. Whether endorsements matter these days is up for debate. But campaigns often see them as public signals that they're growing and worthy of support. And that they're a safe landing spot for their rival's voters. Complicating the matter is the fact that Scott was initially appointed to his Senate seat by then-Gov. Nikki Haley.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was confirmed by the Senate as the next commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The SSA is based in suburban Baltimore. O’Malley was last seen getting 0% of the vote in the 2016 Democratic presidential race.

Former President Donald Trump wants someone to challenge Texas Rep. Chip Roy in the Republican primary. Unfortunately for Trump, the filing deadline in Texas passed last week. Roy will be the only Republican on the ballot. He just so happens to be supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president.

A group called the Campaign Legal Centre filed multiple complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. They allege the campaign is illegally coordinating with a super PAC. The DeSantis campaign says the complaints are bogus partisan attacks.

• A super PAC (political action committee) is an organization that raises money and supports certain candidates (often via lame TV ads).

• That cash stays separate from the campaign. And the two groups can't coordinate strategy.

• Why? Federal law limits the amount of money campaigns can raise from individual donors. Super PACs have no limits. Coordination would be a circumvention of those donor limits.

 TRIVIA 

 WORLD 

🇫🇷 France: Paris' 900-year-old Notre-Dame cathedral survived a catastrophic fire in 2019. Now its iconic spire has been rebuilt as part of the ~$755 million restoration. The French government (they own the building) plans to reopen the landmark late next year.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: The Royal Navy sent a destroyer to the Red Sea as part of a U.S.-led effort. The goal is to combat attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen and keep busy shipping lanes open.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: Ukraine's military leaders say they need up to 500,000 new troops. They're considering drafting both men and women, claiming they're out of volunteers. President Zelenskyy hasn't yet agreed to the plan and said "I need specifics."

🇪🇺 European Union: The E.U. is investigating the artist formerly known as Twitter. Elon Musk's X platform is under fire for possibly failing to comply with EU rules on disinformation and illegal content.

🇪🇬 Egypt: President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi won reelection to a third term with an astounding 90% of the vote. Of course, margins like that are seldom seen in legitimate competitive elections. And El-Sisi's neutered opposition says this one is no different.

 BRIEFS 

🏳️ Minnesota has a new state flag and it is...surprisingly good. Most state flags are garbage (complicated state seals on fields of blue). To ensure they don't do something too good too quickly, the new design doesn't become official until May 11, 2024.

🍿 Marvel Studios fired Kang actor Jonathan Majors a day after he was convicted of (misdemeanor) assault and harassment. Thankfully, he'll be easy to recast since no one watches the MCU anymore.

💸 A French couple sold a 19th-century African mask to a guy for $165. He resold it for $4.6 million. They sued, they lost, and they learned a valuable lesson: don't sell grandpa's old junk without knowing what it is first.

🚘 California and Nevada are letting Mercedes-Benz try a new feature on self-driving test cars. And this one's for the benefit of other drivers — a partially turquoise taillight.

🇺🇸 Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's funeral was yesterday. From 1981-2006, O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the high court. She passed away on Dec. 1. Both President Biden and Chief Justice Roberts spoke at her service.

 QUOTE 

 ANSWER 

That would be the U.S. Air Force, founded in 1947. It was originally created in 1907 as the Aeronautical Division of the Army’s Signal Corps and became its own service after World War 2.