Democrats Air Their Post-Election Grievances

Happy Monday! And on this Veterans Day, a hearty thank you to all the current and former members of the U.S. military who have bravely and nobly served this country. We’re grateful for your service and devotion. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• The Justice Department on Friday unveiled charges against three men involved in an Iranian plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump and dissident Masih Alinejad. Two New York City-based men have been arrested in connection with the scheme to kill Iranian-American Alinejad—who has been targeted before—at the direction of a third Afghan national, whom the DOJ identified as an Iranian asset and who is still at large in Iran. Farhad Shakeri—who emigrated from Afghanistan to the United States as a child but was deported after serving time for armed robbery—told law enforcement that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had tasked him with devising a plot to kill the former president in the weeks before the election.
• Ukrainian forces on Sunday launched perhaps their largest drone attack of the war against Russia, with some of the drones approaching Moscow and diverting flights from three major airports in the region. The attack, which Russia claimed it had mostly thwarted by shooting down some 80 drones, followed a significant drone attack on Ukraine the previous night. Meanwhile, two Russian “decoy” drones, used to confuse Ukrainian air defenses, reportedly crashed deep in Moldovan territory early on Sunday. The Washington Post reported Sunday that President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged him not to escalate the conflict in Ukraine, reminding him of the United States’ “sizable military presence in Europe.”
• Qatari officials said Saturday they were pausing their efforts to mediate a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, claiming the two parties have not shown a “willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war.” The Gulf nation has reportedly also ordered Hamas’ leaders, who have headquarters in the country, to leave, in light of the gridlocked negotiations. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he’d spoken to President-elect Trump three times in recent days. According to Axios, the Israeli leader plans to dispatch an envoy to Trump’s hotel at Mar-a-Lago this week.
• Newly appointed Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist organization in Lebanon, had been defeated on the battlefield. “The blows we inflicted defeated Hezbollah, and the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is the crowning jewel,” he said. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces continued to launch attacks against targets in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria over the weekend.
• Tens of thousands of people marched in Valencia, Spain, on Saturday to protest the government’s handling of recent flooding in the region that killed more than 220 people. The demonstrators—who at times clashed with police and vandalized buildings—called for the resignation of the regional president, Carlos Mazón, over what they say was his government’s sluggish and insufficient response to the historic natural disaster.
• A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employee was fired after the Daily Wire reported she told members of her team canvassing houses in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton not to approach houses advertising support for Donald Trump. According to the Daily Wire’s reporting, at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were skipped by FEMA canvassers and “not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance.” “This was reprehensible,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Saturday. “I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct.” GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky said over the weekend that the House Oversight Committee would hold a hearing later this month to investigate the agency.
• The Associated Press and other network decision desks called Arizona for Trump on Saturday night, meaning the former president officially swept all seven swing states in the 2024 election and secured 312 electoral votes to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 226. President Joe Biden announced Saturday that he and Trump are set to meet at the White House at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
• Also on Saturday, the Associated Press called Nevada’s U.S. Senate race for the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Jacky Rosen, over Republican Sam Brown. The U.S. Senate race in Arizona between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake remains too close to call by the Associated Press’ count, though Gallego leads and other decision desks have called the race for him. If that result holds, Republicans will have a 53-47 Senate majority in the next Congress. Republicans are also just four seats away from securing a majority in the House of Representatives, with three net pickups for Republicans and 18 races yet to be called. 

Knives Out Following Harris’ Loss

Republicans won the White House—and the popular vote—after nominating a twice-impeached convicted felon who is the only president in the history of modern polling to never reach a 50 percent approval rating. The GOP also secured a healthy Senate majority and will likely soon complete its governing trifecta after a few more House races are called. 

Democrats are all trying to find the guy who did this. 

Elected Democrats, party operatives, and campaign staffers of all stripes have spent the five days since the election conducting an initial post-mortem, trying to figure out what and whom to fault for President-elect Donald Trump’s resounding victory. The conversation includes a healthy dollop of inside-the-beltway jockeying and palace intrigue, but how Democrats muddle their way through this fleeting moment when the wounds are still raw could define what the party stands for moving forward.

On the surface, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have had nothing but nice things to say about one another. Behind the scenes, however, their respective aides have been waging …

As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. Our 1,832-word item on the Democratic blame game is available in the members-only version of TMD.

Worth Your Time 

• Americans often blame politicians or the radical voices on social media for driving us apart. But what if the fault lies with a different kind of algorithmic automation? “Since the nineteen-sixties, much of American public life has become automated, driven by computers and predictive algorithms that can do the political work of rallying support, running campaigns, communicating with constituents, and even crafting policy,” Jill Lepore wrote for The New Yorker. “In that same stretch of time, the proportion of Americans who say that they trust the U.S. government to do what is right most of the time has fallen from nearly eighty per cent to about twenty per cent. Automated politics, it would seem, makes for very bad government, helping produce an electorate that is alienated, polarized, and mistrustful, and elected officials who are paralyzed by their ability to calculate, in advance, the likely consequences of their actions, down to the last lost primary or donated dollar. … An entire generation of Americans can no longer imagine any other system and, wisely, have very little faith in this one.”
• Jordan Watkins, the star wide receiver at Ole Miss, wasn’t always on top of the world. “Before he became a record-setting starter on a top-rated SEC offense, Watkins was that kid from nowhere,” Justin Williams reported for The Athletic. “When Watkins was 8 years old, he sobbed as he watched his mom [being] driven away in the back of a cop car. He can still hear the officer telling him, ‘Don’t worry, your mom will be back soon.’ He didn’t see her again for almost two years.” Watkins’ mother, Paula, was addicted to drugs. “‘It took me a very long time to forgive my mom for going away,’ said Watkins. ‘I hate that in retrospect, because I love my mom to death, but I was clearly acting out to show how much resentment I had toward her.’ … After 14 years, the roots have taken hold. This weekend, Paula and the family will make their regular 400-plus-mile trek to watch Watkins and the Rebels take on Georgia. Cheering on the quiet kid from nowhere.”

Presented Without Comment

Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk Made Appearance on Trump-Zelensky Call

Also Presented Without Comment

National Review: Trump Rejects [Former U.N. Ambassador] Haley and [Former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo as Cabinet Picks, Thanks Them for Previous Service

Also Also Presented Without Comment

NBC News: Yale Introduces Class on Beyoncé’s Political and Cultural Impact

In the Zeitgeist

Following the devastating fire that collapsed the roof of Notre Dame de Paris in 2019, the eight bells of the cathedral rang out together on Friday morning for the first time in more than five years. The historic church at the heart of Paris will reopen early next month. Christmas in Paris, anyone?

Toeing the Company Line

• Senior editor Mike Warren has volunteered to answer your questions in November’s Monthly Mailbag (🔒). If you want to know more about his observations from covering the 2024 election on the road, life as the father of three boys under 10, or his love of J.R.R. Tolkien and the Beatles, drop a question in the comments here.
• In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics crew covered the couple of Senate races that slipped through Republicans’ fingers, Nick argued (🔒) that the country deserves to have all of Trump’s nominees confirmed, Jonah implored Americans to stop bashing democracy just because they don’t like the outcomes it produces, Chis assessed (🔒) whether Republicans’ victory was because or in spite of the former president, and Hannah Anderson urged Americans to adopt humility in Dispatch Faith. 
• On the podcasts: Jonah ruminated on the electorate that wasn’t in this weekend’s solo Remnant, and Jamie is joined by Rich Goldberg on today’s episode of The Dispatch Podcast to break down what a second Trump administration’s foreign policy might look like.
• On the site over the weekend: Cole Murphy praised Penguin as the better Batman villain movie of the year and Mathis Bitton reviewed Christine Rosen’s book about the loss of experience in the digital age. 
• On the site today: Yuval Levin pens this week’s Monday Essay about what Trump’s victory doesn’t mean.