The once and future President Trump
Plus: Elon made the family pic
President-elect Donald Trump has started staffing his administration, and the world’s richest man is helping him decide.
Welcome to today’s issue of Whig. Read to the end to see how far TV ratings fell for the election. I’ll be off for the remainder of the year to rest, recharge, and prepare to relaunch this newsletter in the next administration. What would you like to see more of? — Hunter
Top headlines:
🪐 Our understanding of Uranus might have been all wrong for nearly 40 years. Much of the understanding of the seventh planet comes from a brief flyby, which researchers now say overlapped with an exceptional solar event. [New York Times]
🐋 A dead whale showed up outside COP29 in Azerbaijan. It's just an art installation. A Belgian-based art collective known as Captain Boomer is behind the dead whale art installation outside the climate summit. [USA Today]
🥞 Applebee’s, IHOP to open first combo restaurant in U.S. Dine Brands, which owns both restaurant chains, announced this week it will open the “Dual-branded” location in Seguin, Texas, in the first quarter of next year. [NewsNation]
🧈 Costco recalls nearly 80,000 pounds of Kirkland Signature butter. A critical allergy statement was left off the packaging, sparking fears that people with allergens may consume the product. [Fast Company]
Biden to meet with Trump:
President Joe Biden will host Trump Wednesday at the White House. It’s a return to the tradition after an eight-year gap. Though then-President Barack Obama invited Trump to visit the White House in 2016 after Trump’s win that year, Trump didn’t offer the customary meeting to Biden after his 2020 loss. Former First Lady Melania Trump is reportedly expected to skip the traditional meeting of the current and future FLOTUSes with First Lady Jill Biden.
Trump starts staffing up:
The second Trump administration is starting to come into view. Here’s who Trump has named so far to his administration:
Chief of staff: former Trump co-campaign manager Susie Wiles
Deputy chief of staff: former speechwriter Stephen Miller
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)
National Security Advisor: Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.)
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y)
“Border Czar”: former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan
U.S. ambassador to Israel: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R)
Elon made the family pic:
Melania Trump wasn’t in a family pic shared by Tiffany Trump last Wednesday, but Elon Musk was. Musk, the world’s richest man, heads companies that receive government contracts and subsidies, and he was reportedly on a call with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Musk has “spent nearly every day at Mar-a-Lago with Trump” since Election Day and weighed in on White House staffing decisions, sources tell ABC News. Musk and the world’s nine other richest people have gotten $64 million richer since Trump was reelected, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
Don Jr. choosing venture capital over capital city:
Donald Trump Jr. won’t be joining his dad’s administration. Instead, the incoming president’s oldest son reportedly told donors on Sunday he’s joining 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in conservative companies, like Tucker Carlson’s new media company.
Harris returns to the White House:
Vice President Kamala Harris made her first visit to the White House since the election today. Outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, White House staffers cheered “MVP” for the “Madame Vice President” and Harris told them, “we still have work to get done.”
After her concession speech Wednesday — “In our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God. My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” Harris said — she made her first public appearance Monday at a wreath-laying ceremony with Biden for Veterans Day.
No, Ella Emhoff wasn’t hospitalized:
Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff said on Instagram Stories on Saturday, “There’s a rumor about me having a mental breakdown and getting checked into a hospital. Not true.” Emhoff wrote that she has struggled with mental health but doesn’t see a problem with feeling your feelings.
“There’s nothing wrong with showing emotion and crying,” she wrote. “Anyone who says there is probably needs a good cry."
Jimmy Carter nominated for another Grammy:
At 100, former President Jimmy Carter set a record last Friday when the recording of his book Last Sundays in the Plains: A Centennial Celebration, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, making him the oldest person ever nominated for the award.
Carter has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards and won three, for Best Spoken Word Album for his books Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2005), A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety (2015), Faith - A Journey For All (2018).
Harriet Tubman is a general now:
Abolitionist Harriet Tubman, the first woman in U.S. history to oversee an American military action in wartime, was posthumously named a brigadier general in the Maryland National Guard on Monday for Veterans Day.
“With each act of courage, Harriet Tubman helped bring us together as a nation and a people,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said. “She fought for a kind of unity that can only be earned through danger, risk, and sacrifice. And it is a unity we still benefit from to this day.”
Beyoncé’s now the most nominated person in Grammy history:
Beyoncé leads the nominations for the 67th annual Grammy Awards with 11, including for Record of the Year for “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter. That puts her lifetime nominations at 99, more than any artist, and breaking her from a two-way tie with husband Jay-Z. Beyoncé also has the record for most Grammy Awards wins, with 32.
Sabrina Carpenter registered more voters with HeadCount than any other artist this year:
The voter registration group HeadCount says Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour was their top-performing tour in 2024, with more than 27,000 new registered voters.
“Through our partnerships with over 100 top music artists — like Sabrina Carpenter, Green Day, Ariana Grande, and so many others — HeadCount had a record-breaking year, registering over 450,000 new voters and engaging over a million more people to make sure they vote,” Headcount executive director Lucille Wenegieme told Variety. “Our model works because musicians and celebrities have a cultural cache and an intimate connection with their fans, especially among young people, whose identity as a fan of a particular artist can be even stronger than other aspects of their identity, including affiliation with a political party or candidate.”
Oprah wasn’t “paid a personal fee” by the Harris campaign, production company says:
A spokesperson for Oprah Winfrey’s production company Harpo Productions denied reports she was paid $1 million by the Harris campaign. The spokesperson said that while the Harris campaign “paid for the production costs of ‘Unite for America,’” the campaign’s live-streamed event with Harris and Winfrey, “Winfrey was at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo.”
Here’s how bad TV ratings fell on election night:
According to Nielsen, primetime coverage of the election averaged 42.29 million viewers last week, down 26% from 2020, when viewership averaged 56.92 million viewers. Many viewers instead opted to watch online, where 84 million hours of YouTube and other online streaming and video content were consumed, according to data from Stream Charts.
SNL responds to Trump’s win:
Last time Trump won, Saturday Night Live had Kate McKinnon play “Hallelujah” on the piano in her white Hillary Clinton pantsuit. It was earnest and poignant, and quite frankly, it feels like a thousand lifetimes ago. This time, the SNL cast made a joke about getting on Trump’s good side. “We have never wavered in our support of you,” Bowen Yang said of our dear leader during Saturday’s cold open.
Wearing a muscle suit to play Rambo Trump, James Austin Jones added, “from now on, we're going to do a very flattering portrayal of Trump because he's, frankly, my hero, and he's going to make an incredible president and, eventually, king. We love you, buddy!”
Girls Aloud are releasing a special charity single:
British girl group Girls Aloud are marking the 20th anniversary of their charity single cover of “I’ll Stand By You” with a new version featuring lead vocals from the late Sarah Harding, who died in 2021. “I’ll Stand By You (Sarah’s Version)” will benefit BBC’s Children in Need charity. It’s the group’s first single in 12 years and will be released Friday.
R.I.P. Bruce Degen, the Magic School Bus illustrator:
Illustrator Bruce Degen, who worked with author Joanna Cole on the Magic School Bus series beginning with their first book The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks in 1986, died last Thursday at the age of 79. “We have lost a true pioneer of children’s bookmaking,” Crown Books for Young Readers editor at large Phoebe Yeh said.