Democrats' Play Blame Game, Discuss Next Steps Following Loss
Plus, Trump administration's plans for climate policy
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The most wonderful time of the year 🎶 is arriving even earlier this season. Spotify’s Christmas Hits playlist became the most-streamed playlist in the US last week — nearly doubling its popularity compared to the same time last year.
Holiday cheer moves from post-Thanksgiving to Halloween? Spotify caught onto the trend and dropped its 2024 Spotify Singles Holiday Collection in mid-October — a month earlier than usual.
A look at the numbers: From Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, Laufey’s “Christmas Dreaming” and “The Christmas Waltz” saw streaming spikes of over 1,000%. Taylor Swift’s “Christmas Tree Farm — Old Timey Version” had a similar surge.
By Nov. 1, Christmas classics were back in full swing with Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” back on Spotify’s Daily Top US Chart.
Good luck to the Grinches… Have a good one!
Mosheh, Jill, Sari, & Lauren
PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to subscribe to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — DETAILS at the bottom of this newsletter!
📌 DEMS DEBATE PRIORITIES AFTER BEING SHUT OUT OF CONGRESS, WHITE HOUSE
Democrats are continuing their postmortem of the 2024 election, after Trump gained ground with voters in nearly every demographic and every state and Republicans won majorities in the House and Senate. Some Democrats are blaming an emphasis of identity politics for the losses, saying the party should have focused more on working class voter priorities like the cost of living and crime.
Identity politics refers to politicians prioritizing issues that impact a specific constituency, such as policies for individual demographic groups, race or gender identities. Examples include emphasis on trans and LGBTQ rights, using proper pronouns and trying to develop terms like BIPOC and LatinX (that even the vast majority of Latinos didn’t use). Add to that, Democratic leaders catering to movements like “Defund the Police.”
Liberal NY Times Columnist Maureen Dowd recently summarized it this way. “Some Democrats are finally waking up and realizing that woke is broke…the party embraced a worldview of hyper-political correctness, condescension and cancellation.”
Some Democrats are now admitting they divided the nation, and oversimplified complex issues. It comes as there is new data showing that white progressive views are now far to the left of minority groups in the US (see below).
via Financial Times
Michigan’s Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin (D) said on MSNBC over the weekend, “We don't need to obsess about identity politics,” while two New York City Democratic congressmen on Monday advised their party to move away from identity politics and focus on working-class people — once the backbone of the Democratic party.
BLUE-COLLAR DEMS
The Democratic Party was long home to blue-collar, union workers. But in this election, those voters carried Trump to victory. There has been a gradual shift over the last 15 years as working class voters who make less than $100,000 a year have moved to the right, while richer, white-collar voters have moved to the left.
Why? Inflation played a major role. Amid rising prices at grocery stores, restaurants, and everywhere else, voters voiced widespread frustrations about the economy. About a third of Americans consider themself working-class. Many felt that Democrats would not do enough to keep costs down.
Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright (D), who narrowly lost this month, told the New York Times, “When the change doesn’t show up, the hope for change turns into anger. The anger showed up.”
Via: NBC News.
Trump gained voters with annual household incomes under $100,000, while Harris maintained support among higher earners. Real median income in the US is around $75,000.
ON THE ISSUES
Democracy and abortion access were the top issues for Harris voters. Trump voters’ top issues were the economy and immigration.
Some Democrats are saying that the party’s focus on race and gender did not align with what working class people were experiencing on a day-to-day basis, leaving them feeling alienated and misunderstood.
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton (D) argued Democrats’ losses could be because they spend “too much time trying not to offend anyone.” He said, “I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
To no surprise, Moulton is facing backlash from within his own party.
📌 WHAT’S NEXT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE?
President Joe Biden pledged new financial support to help protect the Amazon rainforest over the weekend. However, the millions in aid is unlikely to last, as President-elect Donald Trump plans to roll back Biden-era environmental regulations, as he did his first term. He says his focus is on drilling for more oil and natural gas, and has dismissed the need to address climate change.
This comes as 2024 is on track to be the hottest year on record and the first to break a warming limit set out in the Paris Climate Agreement — a treaty Trump plans to withdraw the US from again.
BIDEN’S LEGACY
Biden became the first sitting American president to visit the planet’s largest tropical rainforest. The Amazon is referred to as the “lungs of the earth.” Biden used the trip to assert that "some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that's underway in America, but nobody — nobody — can reverse it.”
In Biden’s four years, he signed the most comprehensive climate legislation in the US to date and put some of the strictest American environmental rules in place.
While Trump can change EPA rules, it will be harder to reverse the hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy investments from The Inflation Reduction Act. Those investments came with the goal of helping the US cut carbon emissions in half by 2030. The US emits the most per-capita CO2 in the world.
Biden’s visit comes as world leaders gather for the G20 summit, where President-elect Trump is a major topic of conversation.
With G20 countries accounting for 85% of the world's economy and 80% of global emissions, they will focus on climate financing. Developing countries have called on rich nations to foot the bill for emissions reductions.
WHAT TRUMP WILL TARGET
Trump’s America-first approach to world events is expected to also impact investments into the global fight against climate change.
One surprising opponent of Trump pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement is Exxon Mobil’s CEO Darren Woods.
The head of the oil giant said, “We need a global system for managing global emissions … Trump and his administrations have talked about coming back into government and bringing common sense back into government. I think he could take the same approach in this space.”
Trump ally Elon Musk also leads the biggest electric vehicle company, Tesla, and has described himself as “super pro climate.” At the same time, Trump has nominated Chris Wright to be Energy Secretary. He acknowledges that climate change is occurring, but has opposed recent government efforts to fight it, and disputes that it is a “crisis.”
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations (AXIOS)
📌 Trump nominates former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation (FOX NEWS)
📌 Lawyer says his 2 clients told House Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid them for sex (ABC)
📌 Brendan Carr wrote the FCC chapter in ‘Project 2025.’ Now he’s Trump’s pick for the agency (CNN)
📌 The one agency that might have the muscle to oppose Elon Musk (POLITICO)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 Trump allies warn Biden risking 'World War III' by authorizing long-range missiles for Ukraine (FOX NEWS)
📌 Almost 100 Gaza food aid trucks violently looted, UN agency says (BBC)
📌 Two undersea cables in Baltic Sea disrupted, sparking warnings of possible ‘hybrid warfare’ (CNN)
📌 French farmers escalate protests against an EU-Mercosur trade deal and fear unfair competition (AP)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 The world's most commonly used password of the year is "123456" (AXIOS)
📌 Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy amid growing losses and debt (NBC)
📌 A.I. chatbots defeated doctors at diagnosing illness (NY TIMES)
📌 Ben & Jerry’s lawsuit accuses parent company of censorship over Gaza (AP)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 Netflix announces Beyoncé will perform at Christmas NFL game in Houston (VERGE)
📌 Adidas signs first NIL deal with girls' high school basketball player (NBC)
📌 The USPS will honor Betty White with her own stamp in 2025 (NPR)
📌 Diddy broke prison rules and called witnesses behind bars, prosecutors say (BBC)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: NOVEMBER 19
1863: President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches in American history. It was just 272 words long.
1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel.
1990: Pop duo Milli Vanilli was stripped of their 1989 Grammy Award for Best New Artist after admitting that they never sang on any of their albums or in concert.
2004: Coined “Malice at the Palace,” Indiana Pacers players Ron Artest (now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest) and Stephen Jackson fought Detroit Pistons fans after one threw a drink at Artest.
The infamous fight forced officials to end the game with 45.9 seconds left, the Pacers won 97-82.