Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🔴 The state of the Republican Party
• 🤖 OpenAI is set to release a secret agent
• 🎶 It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.83-minute read (1,285 words).

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

–Margaret Mead (1901-1978)

A major political shift is underway in Washington and across the US – beyond new leadership changes at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

Today, we’ll be kicking off a two-part series focused on how both the Republican and Democratic Parties have changed in recent years, in terms of both their bases of support and their recent policy positions.

The Republican Party, fresh off its landslide victory in the 2024 election, is first on the list.

The GOP’s base of support

The Republican Party holds a clear advantage among several major demographic groups, according to exit polls from the 2024 election. These include men, voters aged 45-64, rural and suburban voters, people without a college degree, White voters, and Latino men.

And while Republicans may be trailing among other groups, they appear to be making inroads across the board.

• Data from this month’s election shows President-elect Trump gained ground in nearly every key demographic compared to his previous run – including gender, education, urban vs. rural, and age (except those aged 65+, where Trump neither gained nor lost support).

Republican policy positions

Since the era of President Ronald Reagan, the Republican party has largely promoted traditional conservative values: a smaller, less active federal government, free enterprise and free trade, American leadership on the international stage, and opposition to abortion rights.

But in recent years – and especially following this month’s election – the GOP appears more in tune with populist conservatives across America, with a corresponding adjustment in their general policy positions.

• Generally speaking, Republicans today largely oppose significant spending cuts aimed at addressing the rising federal debt and deficit; support large-scale tariffs on imported goods; question whether US resources should be committed to international issues; and oppose national-level abortion restrictions following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Looking ahead… Starting in January, the GOP will be tasked with running the White House and both chambers of Congress. It represents a strong position to enact key Republican policies, though the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold poses a significant roadblock for most legislation.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you prefer the Republican Party of today, or the GOP of previous decades?

• Republicans today
• Republicans in previous decades
• Unsure/other

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🥊 Jake Paul beat Mike Tyson …◌…by…◌…unanimous…◌…decision. 60 million households tuned in live to the match, with the event peaking at 65 million concurrent streams, according to Netflix. The streamer also said 50 million households watched Katie Taylor take on Amanda Serrano in the co-main event, making it the most-watched professional women’s sporting event in US history. Some other records: The fight was streamed in 6,000+ US bars and restaurants (a record for the sport’s largest commercial distribution), and stadium gate receipts topped $18 million (the biggest boxing gate in history outside of Nevada). But it wasn’t all good news for Netflix: Many viewers experienced buffering issues, streaming glitches, and low-res video leading- up- to- and- during the fight – which may raise concerns from the NFL. Netflix is set to livestream two NFL games on Christmas Day.

🕶️🤖 OpenAI is set to release a secret agent. The ChatGPT-maker is preparing to launch a new AI agent, codenamed “Operator,” in January, per a new Bloomberg report. The agent’s mission, which it’s already chosen to accept: To perform tasks on behalf of users, such as booking travel. The move is part of a broader industry push to develop and release “agents,” or AI tools that can perform multi-step tasks with minimal human supervision. Anthropic recently launched a similar agent that can perform tasks for users; Microsoft recently unveiled AI tools to automate tasks like sending emails and managing documents; and Google is working on its own AI agent, according to The Information ($).

🌳 Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon rainforest. Some highlights from the visit: The president took an aerial tour of a region of the world’s largest rainforest; met with Indigenous leaders and Nobel laureate Dr. Carlos Nobre, who studies how climate change affects the Amazon; highlighted how the US spent $11 billion in climate finance this year, up from $1.5 billion in fiscal 2021; designated November 17th as International Conservation Day; and unveiled other conservation efforts, including $50 million for the Amazon Fund.

Don’t blink – or you’ll miss the holiday in between Halloween and Jesus’ birthday. Thanksgiving turkey hasn’t yet hit dinner (or folding) tables, and Christmas music is already surging.

• “Christmas Hits” was the #1 playlist on Spotify in the US last week, with almost double the streams than this time last year.
• From October 31–November 1, "Christmas Dreaming" by Laufey saw a 1,450% increase in streams, "The Christmas Waltz" by Laufey saw a 1,090% increase, and "Christmas Tree Farm – Old Timey Version" by Taylor Swift experienced a 1,020% increase. Sabrina Carpenter's "white xmas" (+400%) and "buy me presents" (+390%) also saw spikes.

The Christmas Creep is real. A UK analysis found Christmas-themed merchandise, songs, and decorations have been appearing earlier each year since at least 2010. Meanwhile, in the US, Starbucks has already rolled out its 2024 holiday menu, while retailers like Wayfair, Target, and Amazon all held discounted seasonal sales events in October, ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

🎃 Not just Christmas… Retailers have also been promoting Halloween decor and products earlier each year. In 2024, Home Depot began pushing the holiday as early as April under the banner of “Summerween.”

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• ☝️ Chinese EV giant Xpeng unveiled the “Land Aircraft Carrier,” a new $280,000 flying car contraption that consists of a ground module, dubbed the "Mothership," and a detachable flying air module. Somewhere, Elon Musk is kicking himself for not thinking of it first.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Thousand Fell

• 💰 US markets fell across the board last week (S&P: -2.1%; Dow: -1.2%; Nasdaq: -3.1%).
• 📝 ByteDance, TikTok's China-based parent company, is undergoing a share buyback valuing itself at $300 billion, one of its highest ever valuations; the tech giant valued itself at ~$225 billion in October 2023, and $268 billion in December 2023.
• 🤖 Nvidia's new AI chips are overheating in servers, raising concerns from customers like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, according to a report from The Information.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀👀 Inside the NBA is moving to ESPN: Warner Bros. Discovery struck a deal with Disney to license the rights to ESPN and ABC starting next season, per a new Wall Street Journal report; the show was previously set to end after this NBA season.
• ⚽ The NWSL final is set: The Washington Spirit will play the Orlando Pride this Saturday to decide the NWSL championship, after both teams scored narrow semifinal victories over the weekend. | 🥊 Jon Jones retained his UFC heavyweight title with a third-round TKO of challenger Stipe Miocic, who retired following the match.
• 🍿 Red One led the domestic box office with $34 million in its opening weekend; the film stars The Rock and Chris Evans and cost ~$350 million to make and market. | 🏟️ Clear eyes, full hearts: A Friday Night Lights reboot is in the works at Universal. | 🏆🎤 Conan O’Brien was tapped to host the Oscars for the first time (March 2 on ABC).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Pique Life

• 🌋🌕 Volcanoes once erupted on the dark side of the Moon several billion years ago, just like on the side we can see from Earth, per a new study.
• 🤖🏥 ChatGPT by itself was more accurate at diagnosing a medical condition from a case report compared to both doctors using ChatGPT and doctors not using AI, per a new small study.
• 🐅 Researchers discovered a near-perfectly preserved saber-toothed kitten frozen in Siberia’s permafrost; the cat died 35,000+ years ago.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• ⚖️ Three of Malcolm X's daughters filed a $100 million lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, and NYPD, accusing the agencies of having prior knowledge of the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader but deliberately failing to prevent it.
• 🏛️ President-elect Trump named Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary; at 27, she’d be the youngest person ever to serve in the position. | 🇺🇦🚀 President Biden has authorized Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russian territory, per multiple reports.
• 🇨🇳🙏 China experienced its second mass-casualty attack in a week on Saturday, when eight people were killed and 17 others were injured in a knife attack. | ✈️ A Southwest Airlines flight at a Dallas airport was canceled Friday night after the plane was struck by gunfire while preparing for departure.

CLICKBAIT

• 🪐📸 The best new photos from NASA's latest flyby of Jupiter.

🌉💰 Stat of the Day: If ABC was hosting a spinoff called Who Wants To Meet A Millionaire? – it would be set in San Francisco. Around 1 in 185 workers in San Francisco earn $1+ million/year, the highest share of any US metro area by a nearly 2x margin (Fort Meyers, Florida, ranks second at 1 in 313 workers), per a new analysis of ADP payroll data. The Bay Area also dominates when it comes to jobs paying $500,000+/year, with its 1 in 48 ratio roughly doubling other top-ranked cities like Austin (1 in 86) and NYC (1 in 93). The research, based on hundreds of millions of ADP payroll records over the 12 months through July 2024, is widely considered more reliable than government data when it comes to high earners.

🤔 Did You Know? “Moonmoon” is the scientific term for when a planet’s moon has its own moon; there are several theoretical candidates in our Solar System that could host a moonmoon, including Earth’s Moon, though none have ever been detected.

📰 Worth a Read: Why humans are the only species that sheds emotional tears → (New York Times)

Monday: G20 Leaders’ Summit kicks off in Brazil

Tuesday: SpaceX hopes to launch Starship’s sixth test flight

Wednesday: 58th annual CMA Awards air on ABC

Thursday: The Great American Smokeout

Friday: Gladiator II and Wicked both hit US theaters

On Friday, we covered how the Biden admin won’t suspend military aid to Israel after a US-imposed deadline to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation expired – despite what rights groups say is little progress.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, should the US keep supplying military aid to Israel?

• Yes, maintain the status quo: 25%
• Yes, but add more conditions to the aid: 19%
• No: 46%
• Unsure/other: 10%

Click here to read more of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 2,717 votes and 269 longform responses.

Betty White will bring her smile to mailboxes next year as part of the US Postal Service's 2025 stamp collection, which will honor nature, history, and cultural icons like the late beloved actress.

• Betty's stamp was designed by Greg Breeding, a postal service art director.

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words.

1. Bib
2. Ceram
3. Culin
4. Ethn
5. Gladi

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1. Bib = Drink (e.g., imbibe)
2. Ceram = Clay (ceramic)
3. Culin = Kitchen (culinary)
4. Ethn = People (ethnicity)
5. Gladi = Sword (gladiator)