The Election Is Rigged All Right … FOR Trump

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Morning Memo is going to keep it light and breezy. Enjoy your holiday. Sign up for the email version.

Not Some Crazy Conspiracy Theory

A good reminder from Gerald F. Seib of the structural advantages Donald Trump and Republicans continues to enjoy heading into 2024:

The Republican advantage is so pronounced that [Charlie] Cook estimates that President Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, will have to win the national popular vote by four to seven percentage points to win in the Electoral College, much as he did in 2020 when he won the popular vote by 4.5% over Trump.

Latest From Georgia …

The judge overseeing the Georgia RICO case declined to revoke bail for Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd but tightened up the conditions of his pre-trial release.

Aileen Cannon’s Leisurely Pace

Josh Gerstein wraps up in one place all of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s Trump-friendly stealth effort to delay the Mar-a-Lago documents trial past the 2024 election.

Colorado Disqualification Clause Case Advances

The Colorado Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next month on the Disqualification Clause case against Donald Trump.

A Fleeting Backbone

Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) lost his bid for re-election in the 2022 GOP primary after he was one of just 10 House GOPers who voted to impeach President Trump a second time. Now he’s running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate to fill Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s empty seat. And he’s gone from Never Trump to “I’m going to support the Republican nominee.”

Shot And Chaser

Shot: Public support for abortion is at one of the highest levels ever.

Chaser: “Center-right lawmakers representing swing districts from New York to California are sounding the alarm that their party’s strategy on abortion rights has backfired.”

2024 Ephemera

• UT-2: Republican Celeste Maloy won a special election to the seat resigned by Rep. Chris Stewart. Maloy was Stewart’s chief congressional counsel
• CA-16: Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) announced she won’t run again in 2024 after three decades in Congress.
• OH-6: Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) will step down from his seat early next year to become the new president of Youngstown State University.

Danger Sign

As part of its bogus impeachment inquiry into President Biden, the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed a prosecutor in the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office who has been involved in the Hunter Biden case.

Put another way: The House GOP is using its made-up claims of political interference in the Hunter Biden investigation as a pretext for engaging in political interference in the Hunter Biden investigation.

Not Just Canada?

Financial Times:

US authorities thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil and issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot, according to multiple people familiar with the case. …

The US informed some allies about the plot following the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist killed in Vancouver in June. In September, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking New Delhi to Nijjar’s fatal shooting.

The Rare MM Product Recommendation

With Mint going the way of the dinosaur, now is a good time for me to recommend one of my absolutely favorites products (I have no affiliation of any kind other than as a user). If you’re looking for a replacement for Mint, or are determined to get your personal finances on solid footing in the new year, or just want a fresh start with a new and different way of managing your money, I can’t recommend YNAB (You Need A Budget) enough.

YNAB has been around for a while. I’ve been using it for almost eight years. I’ve recommended it to friends and family. I’ve used it for joint budgeting with my partner. I’ve used it (with some success) to teach my kids about their own finances.

The only caveat I would offer is that when I started using it, YNAB was very stripped down, remarkably simple, and deeply intuitive (but in ways that are very different from most other budgeting apps or approaches). Since then, it’s added a lot of bells and whistles, so I don’t know how your own introductory experience with the current version will differ from mine with the older version. But I took to it like a fish to water. I suspect you will, too.

It was a life-changing discovery because beyond the mechanics of the app itself, there is an entire mindset around money that YNAB shares via webinars, podcasts, and myriad other forms of outreach. It’s not a harsh or unforgiving approach. It’s full of grace and flexibility. It’s all about aligning your money and your priorities and keeping them in sync.

If you lean toward the frugal and anal retentive (hi, my name is David), you will love the precision and clarity YNAB provides. If money and everything around money has always been a black hole of stress, anxiety, and self-recrimination for you, YNAB can offer reassurance, clarity, and freedom from guilt. If your intimate relationships are plagued by discord around money, YNAB can be an effective mediator: YNAB don’t judge and don’t care. The math is the math, and YNAB can’t change that. But by making the math so obvious, it tees up clear choices for you to make decisions about.

The YNAB testimonials I’ve heard over the years are so cool because there’s no magic, no promise of getting rich quick, no special sauce – and yet the results for people who use it consistently can be off-the-charts in a relatively short time. People come in with finances that are a mess and turn things around in a way that fundamentally changes their relationship with money. People whose finances are solid can turbocharge their savings in ways that open up new possibilities and give them more options. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Good luck in your personal finance journey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I started doing Morning Memo a year ago this month, and I am supremely thankful for your support, encouragement and feedback, especially in the aftermath of the fatal sailing accident I was involved in last month. The past year of MM has been a lot of fun and very rewarding for me personally.

Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday: cooking and eating with minimal commercialism. I hope you’re able to spend yours with people who mean something to you.

The kids have been trickling in since the weekend, so I’m going to fry up a mess of bacon and eggs before the work day starts. I’ll see you again Monday.

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