November 11 2024

Trump Administration roles
1. Iran Hired Hitmen to Kill Trump
2. GOP's Budget Strategy for Tax Cuts Faces Deficit Hurdle
3. Republican Senators Jockey for Favor in Leadership Race
4. Bitcoin hits record high as Trump, Republicans edge closer to power
5. Trump's China Trade War Redux Targets Economic Weakness
6. Chiefs Maintain Perfect Season with Last-Second Blocked Kick
November 11, 1918: Armistice Day, World War I ends

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Trump Administration roles

Susie Wiles will be Chief of Staff 

Tom Holman will be Border Czar 

Elise Stefanik reported to be offered UN Ambassador 

1. Iran Hired Hitmen to Kill Trump

Iran hired a hitman to assassinate Donald Trump weeks before the presidential election, the US said on Friday as it announced criminal charges against three suspects. The Department of Justice (DoJ) revealed it had thwarted the murder-for-hire plot ordered by the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in revenge for Mr Trump’s fatal 2020 strike on the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. DoJ officials waited until days after Mr Trump’s sweeping victory in the White House race to disclose there had been yet another attempt on the president-elect’s life. Mr Trump had been widely expected to resume his hardline stance on the Islamic Republic if he regained the presidency.

Article Source: Telegraph

2. GOP's Budget Strategy for Tax Cuts Faces Deficit Hurdle

As Republicans prepare the party-line tax bill at the core of their 2025 agenda, the key to everything is, simply, “The Number.”  The Number is the maximum budget deficit increase that Republicans are willing to tolerate as they extend tax cuts scheduled to expire after 2025 and advance the rest of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans. To unlock the gate to the legislative fast track that lets them sidestep Democratic objections, Republicans must agree, with virtually no defections, on The Number.  It is a fraught conversation that is just starting, now that Republicans have won the Senate and stand close to winning enough seats for narrow control of the House. The intraparty debate will expose the tensions between deficit hawks and tax cutters, and perhaps require Trump to be a referee.  the GOP appetite for higher deficits isn’t unlimited. The federal government spent $1.8 trillion more than it collected in fiscal 2024, hitting levels unprecedented outside of wars, recessions and emergencies.  “You can’t just keep saying it will get better magically some day with pixie dust,” Lankford said. House Republicans say they intend to move a bill in the first 100 days of the new Congress, which starts in January. It is likely to include tax cuts, border-security spending and energy policies such as expanded drilling on federal land. They can’t do that until they agree among themselves and with senators on The Number.

Article Source: WSJ

3. Republican Senators Jockey for Favor in Leadership Race

A. Senators vying to become the next leader of the Republican conference pledged on Sunday to quickly push through President-elect Donald J. Trump’s appointees after he demanded on social media that they do so. Senator Rick Scott of Florida was the first to make such a vow in an attempt to curry favor with Mr. Trump. Mr. Scott quickly picked up the endorsement of one of the president-elect’s biggest backers, the billionaire Elon Musk. Not to be outdone, Senator John Thune of South Dakota, who is considered a front-runner in the race, released a statement saying that he, too, would push to swiftly staff Mr. Trump’s administration. Senator John Cornyn of Texas was not far behind. The jockeying for the president-elect’s approval was the latest example of his unparalleled influence over Republican members of Congress. Mr. Trump has not endorsed anyone in the race to succeed Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, but he has railed against Mr. Thune in the past over his refusal to go along with Mr. Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. He has also criticized Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Thune as “weak and ineffective.” Senate Republicans are set to hold a secret-ballot election on Wednesday to choose who will succeed Mr. McConnell as the majority leader when the party assumes control of the chamber in January.  

B. Betting markets give Rick Scott, at 60%, the edge to become Leader 

Article Source: NYT

4. Bitcoin hits record high as Trump, Republicans edge closer to power

Bitcoin has surged past $80,000 for the first time as Donald Trump recorded victories in Nevada and Arizona in the US election, marking a clean sweep of the seven swing states for the president-elect and paving the way for a more pro-crypto administration. While the final result for the House of Representatives is not yet confirmed, Republicans are on the cusp of taking control, which “would allow the new administration to push through supportive policies for digital assets soon after taking office”, according to a note from Standard Chartered. “We would look for several positives for the asset class early in the administration: regulatory changes . . . and changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission that would lead to a softer regulatory stance on digital assets,” Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s head of digital assets research, said on Friday.

Article Source: FT

5. Trump's China Trade War Redux Targets Economic Weakness

A. China is vulnerable at homes to Trump II’s economic war  

Eight years ago, when a newly elected Donald J. Trump promised to apply the powers of the Oval Office to start a trade war with China, the target of his ire was widely viewed as a juggernaut. China was the indispensable factory floor to the world and a swiftly developing market for goods and services. As Mr. Trump now prepares for his second stint in the White House, he is vowing to intensify trade hostilities with China by imposing additional tariffs of 60 percent or more on all Chinese imports. He is pressuring a country that has been chastened by a powerful combination of overlapping forces: the calamitous end of a real estate investment binge, incalculable losses in the banking system, a local government debt crisis, flagging economic growth and chronically low prices — a potential harbinger of long-term stagnation. The decline of fortunes at home has made Chinese companies especially focused on sales abroad. And that makes the country vulnerable to any threat to its export growth, a weakness that would enhance the expected pressure from the Trump administration as it plans to seek a deal that would increase Chinese purchases of American goods.   

B. US ordered TSMC to halt shipments to China of chips used in AI applications  

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC has told some Chinese customers it will stop making advanced AI chips, potentially setting back chip design efforts of companies such as ByteDance, Alibaba and Baidu, according to two people directly involved in the situation. The Financial Times and Chinese media earlier reported TSMC’s communications with Chinese chip companies. TSMC’s move comes as the Commerce Department prepares its annual update of export control measures. Past updates have tightened regulations to more effectively combat China’s ambitions in supercomputing and advanced chip manufacturing. A Commerce official said at a UBS conference in October that the new rules are expected to be released in December, according to a memo of the event seen by The Information. Reuters reported on Sunday that TSMC’s actions followed a directive from the Commerce Department. ByteDance, Alibaba and Baidu all design their own AI chips—and have them manufactured by TSMC—to run their own AI chatbots. If TSMC stops making the most advanced of these chips, Chinese companies would be forced to rely on Chinese chipmakers, which lag the U.S. in technological capabilities.  The Information reported in September that Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, was developing a new AI chip, Kunlun 3, to work with its generative AI chatbots and that ByteDance was aiming for mass production of two semiconductors it has designed by 2026, in collaboration with TSMC.

Article Source: NYT, The Information

6. Chiefs Maintain Perfect Season with Last-Second Blocked Kick

Link

November 11, 1918: Armistice Day, World War I ends

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends

Sources

2. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/11/08/iran-ordered-hitman-to-take-out-trump-during-election-week/

3. https://www.wsj.com/politics/republican-tax-cuts-congress-7b0eb428?st=TsVa9g&reflink=article_copyURL_share

4. A https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/us/politics/republican-senators-trump-scott-thune-cornyn.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
B https://polymarket.com/event/next-senate-majority-leader?tid=1731325886450

5. https://on.ft.com/3O0ScMP

6. A https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/business/trump-china-trade-war.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
B email