The News Not Noise Letter: The Influencer Electorate
A report on influencers who drove the election. Plus: both sides prepare for mass deportations, the latest on Trump’s picks, and News that Doesn’t Suck.
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It’s hard to believe it’s almost Thanksgiving — and that no major news is preventing us from getting this newsletter out on time. (Did I just jinx that?) Today, we share some numbers that might be useful for your family gathering, a wake-up call about the coming reality of mass deportations, and a glimpse of what everyone in media is talking about this week: influencers, the man-o-sphere, and conservative power on social media. (Lots more to say about this, soon.) Plus the latest on Trump’s picks and some News That Doesn’t Suck.
Here are your headlines:
Yes, I Jinxed Us. There’s Breaking News: Donald Trump just named hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to be Treasury Secretary. Prior to running Key Square Capital Management, in an odd twist, he was the chief investment officer at Democratic megadonor George Soros’ Soros Fund Management. Bessent has advocated deregulation, tax cuts, and reducing U.S. debt. More recently, he’s signaled openness to Trump’s tariffs if introduced gradually in the hopes of limiting their widely expected inflationary impact. If confirmed, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay Treasury Secretary.
How Big? Trump’s self-proclaimed “unprecedented and powerful mandate” is looking less unprecedented as more votes are counted. Currently, the president-elect’s popular vote share is 49.8%, with about 1.5 points over Harris. Trump’s margin is the smallest since 2000 — and the fifth-smallest of any presidential race since 1900. So if uncle Fred fills Thanksgiving dinner with talk of Trump’s YUGE mandate, you might want to share this chart, and remind him the total number isn’t yet in.
Information Wars: If you follow me you already know that news influencers are taking audience away from legacy media. (Hello!) Now Pew is out with a new report that about 20% of Americans — 37% of Americans under 30 — get their news from influencers on social media. But here’s the part I found striking: Most news influencers are men and explicitly self-identify as Republican, conservative, or pro-Trump. And right-wing influencers have a far greater reach than their liberal counterparts, and played a big role in getting Trump elected. More than three-quarters of influencers have no news background, yet some reportedly expect access to Trump’s Press Briefing Room. Meanwhile, there are more signs that traditional media is struggling. This week Comcast announced plans to spin off several of its cable networks — including CNBC and MSNBC — into a new publicly traded company.
Camps To Hold Large Concentrations of People: This week, Texas authorities offered Trump a 1,400-acre plot of land near the southern border, which they said could be used to build facilities for “processing, detention, and coordination” of the new administration’s planned mass deportation. Tom Homan, Trump’s nominee for “border czar,” said he would use the land, but didn’t specify how. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said she would be “happy” to offer Trump’s administration “any” of the “13 million acres” her office owns.
Walls Won’t Stop Us: Trump and his team have repeatedly insisted that they will carry out an unprecedented deportation effort no matter the cost. As we’ve reported, this could be nearly $1 trillion — plus the social cost of forcibly removing some 11 million people, of whom about 80% have lived here for over a decade. Multiple Democratic officials have already vowed to oppose or not participate in any mass deportation effort, and this week LA became the latest place to pass a “sanctuary city” law to protect undocumented immigrants living there. But MAGA officials have repeatedly warned that they will use federal agents to arrest, detain and deport people regardless of these objections. And Homan has warned sanctuary state officials to “get the hell out of the way.” If neither side backs down, things could get ugly.
Florida for Winter: By now you know that Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination for attorney general. It happened less than an hour after CNN asked him to comment on allegations of a second sexual encounter with a 17-year-old woman. Gaetz lost the support of enough GOP Senators to put his confirmation in danger: reportedly, Sens Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and John Curtis (R-UT). It’s a sign that there’s some limit to Trump’s power over the Senate GOP — and that Gaetz is uniquely disliked by his former GOP peers on Capitol Hill. Gaetz said he’ll return to Florida rather than serve in the next Congress.
Legally Bondi: Trump’s replacement pick for attorney general is Pam Bondi. She’s no bomb thrower like Gaetz and has relevant experience — she was Florida’s attorney general. She’s known to colleagues as a talented courtroom prosecutor and more recently a fierce defender of Trump, including on the campaign trail. She’s also courted some controversy. As Florida’s attorney general, she was criticized for opting Florida out of a multi-state prosecution of Trump University, despite her state having “one of the largest numbers of Trump U victims,” after she received a $25,000 payment from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. She defended Trump in his first impeachment; worked with Rudy Giuliani to challenge results of the 2020 election; and has warned that those who pursued charges against Trump must themselves be investigated. She’s now a lobbyist with a firm that’s influential in Florida and DC, and is likely to win easy Senate confirmation.
That’s Not Good: The Trump team was reportedly “blindsided” this week when Monterey City released a heavily redacted 22-page police report with new details and the timeline of rape allegations against Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary. The report, filed by an emergency room nurse who treated the woman after the encounter, states that the woman told her she “believes something may have been slipped into her drink,” “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” and shared other disturbing details. A rape kit was collected. Hegseth insists it was a consensual sexual encounter and claims he was “completely cleared.” In truth, he was not charged. That’s not the same as being cleared.
School Haze: Linda McMahon is Trump’s pick for education secretary. Previously the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, she made billions as a co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment. She is a supporter of expanded school vouchers and, presumably, Trump’s plan to wind down the Department of Education — though there’s reason to believe this won’t be possible.
Do you ever wonder why friends don’t know about a news story that you consider important? Maybe the news outlets they follow aren’t reporting on that story. Ground News helps bridge these gaps by showing how stories are reported across the political spectrum. Their app and website compile sources from around the world, highlight blindspots on the right and left, and offer insight into the reliability of each source. Ground News is offering this community a 50% discount on unlimited access to the Vantage Plan. To subscribe, click this link or go to groundnews.com/NNN. It’s their best deal of the year at a time when we can all use some help balancing our news consumption.
The Doctor is In: Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician, is Trump’s pick for the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz has no experience leading a large agency or implementing health policy, though he supports some massive changes in how the American health care system works. He previously drew criticism for promoting sham supplements, and was forced to pay over $5 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accused him of promoting fake weight loss cures. The agency he’s tapped to run is among the most powerful in government, overseeing Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs. CMS provides health coverage to over 150 million Americans and also oversees nursing homes, clinical labs, enforces HIPAA, and much more. As its chief, Oz would have control over drug price negotiations, medication coverage, and how states implement (or dismantle) the Affordable Care Act — and would be responsible for about a quarter of the federal budget, some $1.6 trillion.
Big Brother is Watching:
