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TRANSITION

👨‍⚕️ Welcome to D.C., Dr. Oz

President-elect Donald Trump is keeping the appointments flowing at a record pace. Many are boring, others are… not. Today’s batch is primarily the former, though Trump is taking fire for the lack of Black appointees.

Howard Lutnick will serve as secretary of Commerce after losing the ongoing fight to run the Treasury (and get his name on money). The Department of Commerce manages a weird catch-all basket of agencies including the Patent and Trademark Office, the Census Bureau, and the National Weather Service. It does also fulfill its name with all sorts of economic data and trade policies.

• He’ll play a key role in carrying out Trump’s plans to play hardball on trade by implementing tariffs (import taxes). This can likely be done using older laws rather than asking Congress for new approvals.

• Lutnick, the billionaire CEO of Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, narrowly survived the 9/11 attacks while taking his son to his first day of kindergarten. His company, based in the World Trade Center, tragically lost all 658 employees who came to work that day.

Linda McMahon will serve as secretary of Education. Founded in 1979, the Department of Education handles loans and grants for college students and enforces certain national K-12 standards like specific standardized tests. Trump, like ghosts of Republicans past, would like to get rid of it in favor of a much smaller, less involved agency.

• McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump's first go-round and previously served in various educational leadership roles in Connecticut.

• Before the Trump era, she was better known as CEO of the WWE, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon.

Sean Duffy will serve as secretary of Transportation. The Department of Transportation oversees standard-issue agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Railroad Administration. It also manages some smaller units on research, safety, pipelines, and more.

• Duffy is a former prosecutor who represented Wisconsin in Congress from 2011 to 2019.

• Like most Cabinet officials, he appeared on MTV’s “The Real World” in 1997 and met his wife on the first season of MTV’s “The Challenge.”

Dr. Oz (yes, that one) will serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Oprah’s favorite doctor will manage, as you might assume, Medicare and Medicaid. Mehmet Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon who made a failed bid for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania in 2022.

• CMS is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. So, assuming they both get confirmed by the Senate, Oz will report to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

GOVERNMENT

💊 CVS, UnitedHealth, and Cigna pulled an Uno reverse yesterday and sued the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Back in September, the FTC sued the three health companies for allegedly inflating insulin prices to boost their own profits. Instead of running through typical courts, FTC lawsuits like this run through the agency’s own in-house court. This week’s lawsuit says that process is unconstitutional because the judges, who are not appointed by the president, are too far removed from “democratic accountability.”

🪙 The U.S. Treasury Department threw legal sanctions at some Israeli companies involved in building self-contained Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which international law views as Palestinian territory. The area is now home to more than 500,000 Israelis. The sanctions, among other things, ban the companies from doing business with U.S. companies or citizens.

🇻🇪 Per Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Biden administration made a slight but noticeable diplomatic move this week when it began referring to Edmundo González as the “president-elect” of Venezuela. Most international observers believe González’s victory in the country’s July presidential race was stolen from him by current President Nicolás Maduro.

POLITICS

🏛️ Drama hits Congress before some states finish counting

Representative-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE) this month became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. In a little preview of next year’s coming attractions, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) filed a bill to ban House members and employees from using bathrooms “other than those corresponding to” their “biological sex.” In the event of an unwanted ladies’ room run-in, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is literally ready to throw down.

The recount in Pennsylvania is underway to determine the final winner of the state’s U.S. Senate race. Republican Dave McCormick has led every stretch of the way, but Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is still fighting his likely loss.

• The Pennsylvania Supreme Court again sided with McCormick this week, ordering that state law be followed and mail-in votes with errors like missing dates or signatures not be counted.

• The decision came after a local Democratic official voted to count the ballots anyway in violation of the court’s previous order. She admitted that following the law “doesn’t matter anymore.”

• For that, Trump’s campaign manager said those involved “will go to jail.”

After the big loss, the national Democratic Party laid off hundreds of employees, many of whom were permanent, non-seasonal workers. In response, the labor union representing them slammed the party, saying, “The principles we champion on the national stage have been disregarded in our own workplace."

TRIVIA

Happy 82nd birthday to Joe Biden! Biden’s been the oldest president in U.S. history since the moment he took office back in 2021. Barring something unforeseen, his record will be overtaken by Donald Trump in June of 2028. But presidents haven’t always been that old. We’ve got a two-parter on age today:

1. Who is the youngest president in U.S. history?

2. Who is the youngest elected president in U.S. history?

Hint: Number 1 was elected VP but took over after the other guy was assassinated. Number 2 was actually elected to the big chair himself.

TRUMP

🗯️ Trump confirmation fights and policy previews

Vice President-elect JD Vance remains a U.S. senator until his likely resignation in January. In the meantime, he’s greasing the wheels with his colleagues for some of Trump’s more controversial nominees. Vance will be at the Capitol today and tomorrow for meetings between Republican senators and nominees Pete Hegseth (Defense secretary) and Matt Gaetz (attorney general).

The assist from Vance might not be enough to save Matt Gaetz, who allegedly attended “sex parties” in 2017 during his first year in Congress. The new claim comes from an attorney representing two women who testified to investigators about Gaetz’s alleged past. For his part, Gaetz has firmly denied any wrongdoing and a Trump spokesman called the allegations “baseless.”

• The New York Times claims Trump now privately admits that Gaetz may not be confirmed.

• Meanwhile, potentially damaging legal documents about him maaaay have leaked.

On the policy side, one senator is pushing back on the idea that Trump can overturn the upcoming January ban of TikTok. Trump is looking to Florida for ideas on education. His plan to slash the size of government might be accomplished by… simply ordering federal employees back to the office five days per week and hoping they all quit.

• Some companies, like Walmart, are worried about Trump’s plan to boost tariffs (import taxes). Incoming Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick isn’t phased, though, and consumer confidence in the economy is now positive for the first time since 2021.

• Donald Trump plans to declare a national emergency on immigration early next year. The move would give him additional powers under the National Emergencies Act, which he plans to use to order the military to help carry out potentially millions of deportations.

• If he needs a big hunk of land near the border to stage that operation, Texas (of course) has him covered.

BRIEFS

● Days after getting Biden’s permission, Ukraine hit Russia for the first time with longer-range U.S.-made weapons. In return, Russia flexed its muscles by formally lowering its threshold for launching nukes to include attacks like these.

● America’s governors, via the National Governors Association, are urging Congress to get to work on passing the upcoming defense funding bill. The bill also aims to move some state-controlled Air National Guard units over to the federal U.S. Space Force.

● European governments are calling sabotage after two undersea communications cables were severed. The cables ran hundreds of miles through the Baltic Sea to connect mainland Europe to Sweden and Finland. A Chinese ship is the prime suspect.

● Protestors crowded New Zealand’s capital of Wellington this week to fight a niche bill to redefine the country's original treaty with the native Māori chiefs. Supporters believe current law unfairly gives the Māori special rights not afforded to other citizens.

QUOTE

ANSWER

1. When President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt ascended to the presidency at the ripe old age of 42.

2. Fast forward to 1960 and John F. Kennedy won the prize for himself at age 43. He was about nine months older than Teddy had been.

At their inaugurations, both of these guys were about 40 years younger — one entire JD Vance — than Joe Biden is today.