🌊 Brace for the Blue Tsunami
Democrats appear poised for a record-shattering political comeback, ICE rains down on Minnesota, and the White House is beefing with a former Disney star?
🎭 On this day in 1947, Marlon Brando bellowed “STELLA!” on a Broadway stage during the first-ever performance of Tennessee Williams’s renowned play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ Brando would go on to use his fame and fortune to support the Freedom Rides, anti-Apartheid protests, and Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington.
Good morning! Peter here, with a whole host of thoughts in my noggin. I’m about halfway through Olivia Nuzzi’s new, most controversial memoir, American Canto, and WOWZA, this sordid saga is quite something. I have a question for you, my dear Zeteo family: will you be picking up a copy? What do you make of Ms. Nuzzi? What do you make of RFK Jr.? Is this book even worthy of conversation? And what do you make of Vanity Fair hiring Nuzzi while so many journalists are being let go as a ‘cost-cutting measure’ at legacy media institutions? Let me know in the comments!
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ gobsmacking results in the Tennessee special election have Republicans already mourning their House majority, ‘Secretary of War Crimes’ Pete Hegseth can’t keep his story straight regarding the Venezuelan boat strikes, MAGA escalates its war on SNAP benefits, and the White House is raging at pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
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Democrats Defy Gravity
Undeterred by post-Turkey Day tryptophan hangovers, unbothered by a miserable wintery-mix of rain, sleet, and snow, voters in Tennessee steeled themselves to PokémonGo to the polls on Tuesday in order to send a loud, clear message to the Republican Party: Donald Trump is a big, fat, festering loser.
GOP candidate Matt Van Epps may have defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn in yesterday’s special election for Tennessee’s 7th congressional seat, but make no mistake, this was a devastating, dare I say humiliating loss for the MAGA movement.
Why?
With 99% of the votes counted, Van Epps, a former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services, leads Behn, a state representative, by only about nine points in a district that favored Trump in 2024 by a whopping 22-point margin.
The GOP’s meager victory barely came to pass despite Republican-aligned PACs spending some $3 million to catapult Van Epps into Congress and a purported phalanx of GOP heavy hitters like House Speaker Mike Johnson, Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, and the president himself circling their wagons around the candidate.
But a month after Democrats ran and won big on inflation, affordability, and the cost of living (choose your buzzword, they’re effectively all the same, no?) in the New York mayoral race and the gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey, they now have even more proof positive that, yes, to crib the words of veteran political strategist James Carville, “it’s the economy stupid.”
It is now clearer than ever that the party’s recipe for success next fall is leaning hard into economic populism and calling out the president’s myriad empty promises to help everyday, working-class Americans. Just yesterday, the Bad Orange Man literally called affordability a “fake narrative” and “con job” that “doesn’t mean anything to anybody.”
But I digress… What do yesterday’s results mean for the immediate future?
For one, Republicans need to seriously rethink their redistricting efforts. If a district like Tennessee 7 that was JUST engineered [read: gerrymandered] in 2022 to be a 22-point MAGA cocoon can suddenly cough up a nail-biter, what does that say about all the other court-blessed gerrymandered districts Republicans have been viewing as permanent political life insurance?
Perhaps even more importantly, we should expect to see a host of GOP retirements in the coming months, as I predicted in ‘First Draft’ just last week. Vulnerable incumbents may look at these results and decide that spending more time with their families suddenly sounds noble, even thrilling. Expect a wave of ‘I’ve accomplished what I came here to do’ statements from members who have done no such thing.
But this Tennessee special won’t just spook swing-district Republicans; it will send goose bumps down the arms of even MAGA stalwarts in presumably safe-red seats who realize that next November could be a horror show for the entire GOP.
🗞️ What You Need to Know
Foggy story: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters he didn’t see the two men who survived the first strike conducted on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2. He cited the “fog of war” for the hazy details, and said that he “didn’t stick around” to see the second strike carried out on the survivors – a potential war crime – though he defended the admiral who the administration claims ordered it.
ICE in the Windy City: A federal appeals court heard a challenge to a judge’s order to release on bond hundreds of people detained during sweeping immigration raids in the Chicago area. Data shows the majority of people that ICE agents have captured from across the US have no criminal record.
Even more ICE in Minnesota: ICE is targeting undocumented Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities in the latest Trump administration crackdown. The move comes just days after Trump said his admin would end Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants, baselessly claiming “gangs” of them are terrorizing Minnesota.
National Guard shooting suspect pleads not guilty: Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, DC, last week, pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges against him – including first-degree murder – on Tuesday from his hospital bed. The judge in the case ordered Lakanwal to be held without bond before trial for the “safety of the community.”
MAHA madness: Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices – appointed by RFK Jr. – are planning to vote to end hepatitis B vaccinations for all newborns, according to the Washington Post. The committee will also examine whether vaccines on the childhood immunization schedule are linked to allergies and autoimmune disorders.
War on SNAP: The Trump administration threatened to withhold SNAP funding to Democratic-led states, citing their refusal to provide information on SNAP recipients, including immigration status and social security numbers.
🧠 Pop Quiz!
What soft drink – originally envisioned as a whiskey mixer – was invented in Tennessee?
Keep your eyes out for the answer below!
🌏 Anywhere But America
🇵🇸 Don’t forget Gaza: Israel said the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt will open in the coming days “exclusively for the exit of residents from Gaza,” deepening fears that Israel plans to depopulate the enclave instead of allowing for freedom of movement.
🇭🇳 Drug trafficker JOH released from prison: Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for aiding drug trafficking into the United States, was released from prison after securing a pardon from Donald Trump.
🇵🇰 Imran Khan’s ‘mental torture’: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is reportedly in good health, but has faced the “mental torture” of being kept in solitary conditions in prison, according to one of his sisters, who was allowed to visit him yesterday – the family’s first visit in weeks.
🇷🇺 Putin’s warning: Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed he doesn’t intend to fight Europe, but Russia is “ready” for war “right now” if Europe were to initiate it. The warning came ahead of a five-hour meeting between Putin and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, which ultimately ended without significant progress.
🇹🇳 Tunisia arrests opposition figure: Tunisian police arrested opposition leader Ayachi Hammami on Tuesday to enforce a five-year prison sentence for conspiracy to overthrow President Kais Saied. The move comes just a week after an appeals court sentenced dozens of opposition figures in the government’s tightening grip on dissent.
🇸🇩 Amnesty calls for war crimes probe into the RSF: Amnesty International today called for an investigation into Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for its attacks on the largest camp for internally displaced people in North Darfur. Amnesty said the RSF “deliberately killed civilians, took hostages, pillaged and destroyed mosques, schools, and health clinics during a large-scale attack in April” on the Zamzam camp.
💬 Quote Unquote
“Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country. Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”
That’s what White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said when asked about Sabrina Carpenter’s reaction to the use of her song “Juno” in an ICE arrest video. Read all about it here.
🚨 Don’t Miss It!
What do Ukrainians think of Trump’s plan for “peace” in their country? Freelance journalist Alyssa Oursler was in Kyiv and heard from soldiers and analysts, who told her Trump has already made one big contribution to the war in Ukraine – and it isn’t peace. Alyssa’s important on-the-ground reporting for Zeteo will hit your inbox soon!
📊 Poll of the Day
Yesterday, we asked who you thought would be the first senior official out the Trump administration’s door. Hundreds of you voted, and the people have officially spoken.
Sorry, Kash, but it looks like you’re gonna have to hang up your FBI jacket and take one last joyride on the agency jet.
🧠 Trivia answer: Mountain Dew!
🤦WTF
Trump is the master of projection. As I mentioned in the Lede, the same guy who says affordability is a “con job by the Democrats” is also the one who campaigned on bringing down grocery prices but has yet to do so…
😴 No Words Needed
(But sound makes it better!)
ICYMI From Zeteo
Zeteo’s Melanie Riehl, Akshay Gokul, and Minnah Arshad contributed to this newsletter.
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Why would anyone care to enrich yet another grifter?
Good Day! Thanks for another great edition of First Draft, Peter!
A friend of mine will be sending me a copy of Nuzzi’s book for my birthday later this month. I enjoy biographies, so I look forward to reading it.
Have a great day!