🚗 The Week the Wheels Came Off MAGA

Donald Trump’s political coalition is collapsing faster than most thought possible, Americans sour on AI slop, and JD Vance is sliding into DMs after midnight?

On this day in 1932, German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa to enter the United States. He became an outspoken civil-rights advocate and a sharp critic of McCarthyism. All this to say, who knows if Donald Trump would have allowed him into the country…

Good morning! Peter here, with an important reminder! Starting Monday, the paywall kicks in for ‘First Draft.’ If you’ve enjoyed this daily newsletter over the past seven weeks, if you’ve loved Mehdi’s sharp analysis and managed to endure my bad puns, please consider becoming a paid subscriber! You won’t want to miss what the Zeteo team has in store next week, from a political cartoonist joining the gang to Andrew’s insane scoop regarding Stephen Miller…

In today’s ‘First Draft,’ lame duck Donald Trump can’t seem to contain the growing fractures in MAGA, the Supreme Court resurrects Texas’s GOP-friendly, gerrymandered congressional map, federal prosecutors fail to secure a new indictment against Letitia James, and our recommendations for weekend reads.

☹️ MAGA’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Trump attends a Cabinet meeting on Dec. 2, 2025. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

79-year-old Donald Trump, the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” appeared to drift off into dreamland during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, and that was one of the least awful headlines to hit MAGA over the last five days.

Indeed, it feels as though this was the week that the wheels finally, at long last, came off the Bad Orange Man’s decade-long authoritarian project.

Starting on Monday, the Washington chattering class was mired in debate as to whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had committed a war crime or merely plain, old-fashioned murder for his role in the “double-tap” Venezuelan boat strikes. Again, I must reiterate, this was how MAGA’s week began, with pundits trading takes on precisely which cardinal sin will ultimately send Secretary Hague-seth to the seventh circle of Hell.

Tuesday saw Whiskey Pete’s panic spread Grand Old Party-wide after Democrats defied lingering tryptophan hangovers, foul weather, and political gravity itself to deliver one of the most gobsmacking turnouts in a ruby-red Tennessee special election in recent history. Yes, the Dem, Aftyn Behn, lost – but only by about nine points in a district that favored Trump in 2024 by a whopping 22-point margin. Last week, Punchbowl News reported that a handful of House Republicans were mulling over early retirements in the middle of their terms to avoid wasting the time and money required to launch a losing reelection bid. What’s 22 minus 9? Yes, they now have 13 more reasons to throw in the towel and hand Hakeem Jeffries the speaker’s gavel well before November.

Come Wednesday, New York Rep. and raging Islamophobe Elise Stefanik decided the GOP wasn’t taking enough broadsides from everyone outside the party; it needed to take a few from inside the coalition too! The House Republican Conference chair publicly attacked Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump’s steadfast ally, accusing him of cozying up to Democrats and vowing to withhold support for key legislation. Johnson responded by pleading with members to stop airing grievances in public, which in Capitol Hill lingo translates to: the ship is listing, the lifeboats are missing, and someone seems to have lost the compass.

Also mid-week, Pete Kegseth reentered the spotlight as the Pentagon inspector general revealed that during #Signalgate he had indeed been conducting sensitive military communications on an unsecured personal device, endangering American troops. What’s more, House Oversight Committee Democrats released never-before-seen photographs of longtime Trump bestie Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, and a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers formally demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi provide them with her plan to release the entirety of the so-called Epstein files by today.

Yesterday brought one final humiliation. Trump’s prosecutors once again failed to indict Letitia James, and this time they can’t even blame the outcome on ex-Trump lawyer turned prosecutor Lindsey “hooligan” Halligan. Their revived effort to charge James with mortgage fraud collapsed when the Virginia grand jury refused to indict the New York attorney general.

Are you tired of winning yet, MAGA?

Now, it should be said, over the last decade, there have been more than a few instances where Donald Trump’s political prospects seemed doomed: consider the Access Hollywood “grab them by the” 🐱 tape, the Ukraine quid-pro-quo impeachment saga, JANUARY SIXTH!!, etc… but Trump’s always managed to make a comeback. There’s a mega-viral tweet that I see re-circulating every few months that comments on this very phenomenon.

I raise this only to say that liberals, leftists, progressives, pinkos, wine moms, Never Trump Republicans, and everyone opposed to the fascist threat of Donald Trump and his ilk should not count their chickens before they hatch.

Donald Trump had a bad week.

The country has a long way to go until 2028.

🗞️ What You Need to Know

• Red spread in TX: The Supreme Court revived a redrawn electoral map in Texas that could flip up to five Democratic-held seats in the House, paving the way for Trump to keep control of Congress next year. A lower court had previously found that the map likely discriminated by race, in violation of the Constitution.

• J6 pipe bomber arrested: The FBI arrested the man they believe planted pipe bombs outside Democratic and Republican national party headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Brian Cole Jr. was charged with use of an explosive device on Thursday – nearly five years after the incident.

• Boat strike latest: The US military carried out another strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean on Thursday, killing four people. This came just a few hours after Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called a video of the Sept. 2 double-tap strike on supposed drug smugglers “one of the most troubling things” he’s seen as a lawmaker.

• Pulte probe: The Government Accountability Office announced Thursday it’s opened an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte. The probe will determine whether Pulte misused his authority and agency resources in his decisions to refer two key Trump critics, New York’s AG James and Senator Adam Schiff, to the Justice Department on allegations of mortgage fraud.

• NYT sues DoD: The New York Times sued the Defense Department, alleging that its new restrictions on reporting about the military violate the First Amendment. The suit also argues that the department favors ”individuals and media outlets strongly supportive of the Trump administration.”

🧠 Pop Quiz!

What event made Einstein famous?

Keep your eyes out for the answer below!

🤖 AI in America

A new poll finds most Americans on both sides of the aisle are wary of Washington’s desire to shield artificial-intelligence companies from regulation, as Trump and his billionaire Big Tech pals demand the federal government override state AI laws.

The national survey by Demand Progress indicates that most likely voters believe tech corporations have too much influence over AI policy, and voters overwhelmingly distrust the tech companies developing AI systems to adequately prioritize safety themselves.

A majority of likely voters oppose federal attempts to block states from regulating AI — and opposition grows substantially when voters are told that Trump is demanding the ban on state AI rules. Overall, 71% of Democrats and Independents are worried the government will not regulate AI enough, compared to 62% of Republicans.

The report comes as Trump urges his cronies in Congress to push through a provision that would preempt state AI policies as part of the annual defense budget. Hakeem Jeffries, for his part, said this week the issue “hasn’t been brought to the leadership level yet.”

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🇵🇸 Don’t Forget Gaza

• Israel ‘bulldozed’ bodies into unmarked graves: Hamas called on international bodies to probe and prosecute Israel after a CNN investigation pointed to the “Israeli military bulldozing the bodies” of Palestinians killed while seeking aid near the Zikim border crossing. Others who were killed were “left to decompose in open,” CNN said.

• Israeli-backed gang leader killed: Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a gang in Gaza that Israel armed and supported to counter Hamas, was reportedly killed while mediating a local dispute.

• Eurovision boycott: Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Slovenia announced they’d boycott this year’s Eurovision Song Contest over the inclusion of Israel. The countries’ broadcasters cited Israel’s war in Gaza, with Ireland’s RTE saying participating “would be unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis.”

And on the Israeli border…

• Israel strikes southern Lebanon – again: Israel launched airstrikes on at least three towns in southern Lebanon yesterday, in its latest ceasefire violations. The attacks came just a day after delegates from the two nations held their first direct peace talks in decades.

🚨 Don’t Miss It!

Donald Trump has been boasting about acing his cognitive test, even telling reporters this week that he’s “a very smart man” for passing it.

But this isn’t just any old test he’s talking about. In fact, it’s called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment exam, and it was designed as a rapid screening instrument for mild cognitive dysfunction.

Zeteo pulled together some of the questions so you can find out just how hard the exam is and whether Trump should really be bragging about the results of what is essentially a dementia test.

It’ll hit your inbox soon!

🌏 Anywhere But America

• 🇸🇩 UN warns of mass atrocities in Sudan: The UN warned that the Kordofan region of Sudan could face another “wave of atrocities” as fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces intensifies. In a statement, human rights chief Volker Türk said, “It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in El Fasher.”

• 🇺🇦 Thousands without power and heat: Tens of thousands of Ukrainians faced overnight blackouts after Russia attacked the cities of Kherson and Odessa. Officials said a power plant suspension in Kherson left more than 40,000 customers without heat, and an attack on an energy facility outside Odessa cut power to more than 51,000 households.

• 🇬🇧🇷🇺 UK sanctions Russia over nerve agent attack: The UK announced new sanctions on Russia after an inquiry concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin was responsible for a botched 2018 assassination attempt that killed an innocent British civilian. The attack was intended to kill former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.

• 🇵🇰🇦🇫 Pakistan opens border crossings for aid: Pakistan said it will open two previously-closed border crossings into Afghanistan to allow the UN to deliver relief supplies. The border will remain closed for trade and travel as peace talks remain strained between the two nations.

• 🇨🇩🇷🇼 Congo and Rwanda sign US peace deal: The presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed Trump’s proposed peace deal for ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s mineral reserves to American companies. Despite the deal, fighting persisted today.

💬 Quote Unquote

“This chat’s kind of dead. Anything going on?”

That’s JD Vance hitting up his group chat, at 2:26 am, in the infamous March #Signalgate thread used to discuss classified military ops. He was left on ‘read.’ :(

📊 Poll of the Day

Politico polling conducted Nov. 14 to 17, which surveyed 2,098 US adults online.

What was it again that Trump said about affordability? Oh, right…

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🧠 Trivia answer: The Solar Eclipse in 1919, which proved Einstein’s highly contested theory of general relativity and made him a global celebrity.

📖 Weekend Reads

What a week it’s been for ‘First Draft’! If you’ll miss us this weekend, have no fear — Team Zeteo is here with its list of #mustread articles to keep you company!

How I’m Fighting the US Prison System From the Inside

• The American legal system isn’t set up for ‘justice’; it’s set up for conviction, incarcerated writer Tariq MaQbool pens in a telling – yet hopeful – piece for Al Jazeera. MaQbool, with the help of illustrations by another prisoner, Martin Robles, explains how he and other prisoners are arming themselves with the legal knowledge needed to fight back against an unjust system.

Trump, Gaza, and Oslo Déjà Vu

• As Trump officials prepare to implement the second phase of the Gaza “ceasefire” deal, Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill and Jawa Ahmad break down why, according to experts, Trump’s plan to “perfect” Gaza is nothing more than a “low-level genocide” endorsed even by those who claim to support Palestine.

DOGE Isn’t Dead. Here’s What Its Operatives Are Doing Now

• Remember that big exhale most of us took when Elon Musk’s DOGE appeared to be winding down earlier this year? Well, it’s time to breathe that breath back in, because DOGE is still running its grimy little fingers through the hairs of the US government. Read the reporting from Wired’s Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott to learn what the hell Musk’s DOGE operatives are doing with IRS coding tests, the CDC, and tech-bro redesigns of government websites.

A Dark Money Network Is Recruiting U.S. Mayors to Criminalize Pro-Palestine Speech

• You know an event is bound to have some red flags when outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams is the guest of honor. In this Current Affairs piece, John Ross breaks down why a summit in New Orleans this week is just a fancy excuse for this pro-Israel group to get cities to halt the BDS movement, target pro-Palestine protesters, and end support for ceasefires in Gaza.

We’ll see you back here on Monday!

ICYMI From Zeteo

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Zeteo’s Melanie Riehl, Akshay Gokul, and Minnah Arshad contributed to this newsletter.

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