Good morning, Wake Up Right fam! It may be 40+ days away, but for the past week, every day feels like Christmas. Yesterday, Trump Claus delivered yuge gifts, with cabinet appointments for anti-establishment, MAGA-world heavyweights Tulsi Gabbard and Matt Gaetz. More on their appointments below…

• 📣 Mike Johnson wins GOP nod to remain Speaker

• 🐳 On this day in 1851, Moby Dick was published

• 📊 46% of Californians would support Kamala for governor

• 🏥 Hospitals performed 200k unnecessary back surgeries over 3 years

^{Sources: AP, History, UC Berkeley, Axios}

Trump triggers the swamp with more high-profile appointments

President-elect Donald Trump kept the momentum going on Wednesday, making several high-profile picks for his next administration, with some [::coughmattgaetzcough::] inciting mass hysteria from establishment politicians and the press.

Attorney General: Trump selected Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as his next Attorney General, saying in a statement on Truth Social: “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”

• Firebrand: Gaetz is the definition of "firebrand." Perhaps his most consequential move in Congress was leading the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for failing to deliver on key Republican priorities.

• Reactions: The left is predictably melting down.

Secretary of State: Trump chose Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, saying: "He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries."

• Rubio wasn’t the first choice of the MAGA-right, who are skeptical of his hawkish, neocon tendencies. But he has been a strong Trump ally for the last year or so, so we will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Director of National Intelligence: Trump chose former chair of the DNC, Tulsi Gabbard, to be his Director of National Intelligence, writing: "Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength."

Freak out: To understand the degree to which these picks have triggered the D.C. swamp, look no further than two of its creatures, Rep. Adam Schiff and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger:

• On Gaetz: Schiff wrote on X: “Confirming him would mean affirming the worst potential abuses of DOJ. He must be rejected by the Senate.”“Confirming him would mean affirming the worst potential abuses of DOJ. He must be rejected by the Senate.”

• On Tulsi: Kinzinger claimed, “Tulsi loves Russia…” because she opposed the war in Ukraine.

What happens next? You can expect a media smear campaign against Gaetz and Gabbard over the next few weeks as they try to gin up support for the Senate to block their nominations. But opposing Trump’s picks right after Americans gave him an electoral mandate would be a risky move for any Republican who wants to win re-election.

The last word: Elon Musk responded to Schiff’s post, saying: “The Hammer of Justice is coming.”

[Source: The National Pulse]

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Biden is on the way out, but Bidenflation is still here

Inflation is heading in the wrong direction again, ticking up to 2.6% in October — Two months after the Federal Reserve declared premature victory and began lowering interest rates.

Where it hurts most: The areas of the economy that saw the most painful spikes were:

• 🔋 Electricity: +4.5%

• 🏢 Rent: +4.6%

• 🏠️ Mortgage: +5.2%

• 🚗 Car insurance: +14%

• 🛠️ Car repairs: +5.8%

• ✈️ Airfare: +4.1%

• 🍳 Eggs: +30.4%

• 🍊 Oranges: +7.2%

• 🧈 Butter: +5.1%

• ❤️‍🩹 Healthcare: +6.8%

• 🚼️ Daycare: +6%

Back up: This month’s read is slightly up from 2.4% in September and 2.5% in August. The monthly inflation rate has not reached the Federal Reserve's target of 2% since March 2021. No bueno…

Zoom out: Overall, inflation has risen more than 20% since Joe Biden took office.

Why are we going in the wrong direction? In September, the Federal Reserve signaled it believed inflation was under control when it lowered interest rates by 0.5% and again by 0.25% in October. But lowering interest rates too soon may have caused a rise in demand for goods, pushing inflation back up.

Election implications: According to an exit poll, 77% of voters said inflation had been a hardship for them in the past year.

Big picture: Among all their failures, I think Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be most remembered for inflation. People may forget Joe falling off his bike or Kamala’s word salads, but they will not forget how inflation under this administration cut into their weekly paychecks.

[Source: BLS]

👎️ Senator John Thune will be the new GOP Senate Majority Leader after winning a closely contested secret election. Read more. Not happy about this. But thank you to everyone who called your Senator.

🤝 Donald Trump met with Joe Biden at the White House, where they had a “really good meeting,” according to the president-elect. Read more.

📈 The FBI raided the NYC apartment of Shayne Coplan, the founder and CEO of Polymarket, on Wednesday morning. Read more.

❎ Special counsel Jack Smith plans to step down along with other team members before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Read more.

🇹🇷 Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country has officially severed diplomatic relations with Israel. Read more.

✅ The Trump transition team is drafting an executive order to create a “warrior board” of retired military officials to review and remove 3 and 4-star officers deemed unfit for leadership. Read more. No more woke generals.

🆘 North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid. Read more.

👩 Actress Sydney Sweeney called out Hollywood over its “women empowering other women” movement, claiming the whole idea is an illusion. Read more.

📱 Bluesky, a social media app seen as an alternative to X, gained 1 million new users since Election Day. Read more. Dems are doing what we did in 2020, finding platforms Rumble, GETTR, and Truth Social.

🙄 Pennsylvania’s Senate race moved to a recount as Senator-elect Dave McCormick (R) continues to hold a lead over incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D). Read more.

🎥 Donald Trump met with Joe Biden at the White House. Watch.

🎥 This is insane and beautiful. Lava flowing over snow in Iceland. Watch.

🎥 Don Lemon gets OWNED by a random guy in NYC. Watch.

🎥 Scott Jennings SCHOOLS a CNN panel about PeteHegseth leading the Department of Defense. Watch.

🎥 LOL, Peter Doocey is just trolling Karine Jean-Pierre at this point. Watch.

🎥 Mark Zuckerberg and T-Pain remix his hit “Get Low.” Watch. LOL, the simulation is broken…

🎥 Congress held a UFO hearing, and… WOW. Watch.

🎥 This is why Tulsi Gabbard will be a great Director of National Intelligence. Watch.

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