Today’s notice: Never say never. Anti-Trump Republicans say they’ve still got some fight left in them, Rick Scott says he’s still got a shot at Senate leadership, and it may be nerve-racking for House GOP leaders but Trump may pull more Reps for his cabinet anyway.
A Death Knell For #NeverTrump?
Let’s say you were a prominent member of a political movement nominally focused on stopping one person from attaining power. And then that person attained power. Sounds like the end, right?
Wrong, the big stars in the #NeverTrump constellation say as they defend their standing. Tim Miller told us he understands Democrats’ blame game, but a week after the election, he is feeling more like the victim of bad luck, referring to economic and other headwinds.
“Prejudging what needs to be done based on your ideological priors is not particularly useful,” he said. “I can say that with my experience as a participant in the 2013 GOP autopsy.”
There are a lot of takes flying around on what Democrats need to do — and knocking the #NeverTrump folks down a peg has been prominently featured among them. “There was an over-listening-to and an over-lifting-up of people who left Trump, not people who left the Democratic Party,” Jen Psaki said last week. The clip was shared widely by progressives eager to never see Liz Cheney on the Democratic stump again.
Miller — who we should note was stopped in the street by a fan while on the phone with us — argues that #NeverTrumpers were loudly calling on Democrats to drop the “threat to democracy” talk. He also said he’ll back anyone who can stop MAGA. So if it’s AOC vs JD Vance in 2028 he’s for the democratic socialist? “I mean, obviously,” Miller said.
Rick Wilson is among those atop The Lincoln Project who said his group is still running the numbers, but initial results show they did “pretty well” with their targeted voters, “increasing our percentages from 2020” — figures we’re sure a lot of skeptics are eager to see before they believe. “There’s still a meaningful number of Republican voters out there who understand the moral peril the nation has voted ourselves into,” Wilson texted.
Expect more on the future of The Lincoln Project in the coming days, Wilson said. Over at The Bulwark, where Miller does a lot of his work, some expected to see a big drop-off in subscriptions after the election. But a source said the opposite has happened.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro
Will Online Be Real Life For Rick Scott?
Rick Scott has almost all the public momentum in the race to become the next Senate majority leader. As of Monday, Scott had five endorsements from his Senate colleagues. John Thune had four endorsements and John Cornyn had one senator publicly backing him.
Scott has also won over prominent figures in the conservative movement, including Elon Musk. And, since it’s November 2024, we did check Scott’s numbers on Polymarket: They were at 60% Monday evening.
But Senate procedure may play a big role. It’s essentially a closed-door runoff, where senators vote and remove the candidate with the lowest support until they have a majority. There’s no discussion in-between ballots — at least two ballots are expected between the three candidates — and while Scott may have the early public lead, there’s plenty of reason to believe one of the Johns could prevail.
“Senators never want to be told what to do, but especially in a leadership race,” one senior GOP aide told NOTUS. “This online pressure campaign won’t change the fundamental dynamics of the race.”
— Claire Heddles, Katherine Swartz, Casey Murray and Riley Rogerson
Front Page
- Rudy Giuliani Is Under Subpoena Pressure to Pay His $146 Million Judgment: The plaintiffs’ lawyers want to know if he’s hiding assets in his new company.
- Democrats in New Jersey Are Trying to Figure Out How to Keep the Governor’s Seat: After the state shifted right on Election Day, Democrats have already started planning for 2025.
- Military Leaders and Legal Experts Are on High Alert Over Trump’s Second Term: Trump has expressed an openness to push the boundaries of the Insurrection Act.
Shaking the Cabinet Rumor Tree
The Trump Cabinet Speculation Engine is shifting into overdrive. NOTUS’ Reese Gorman has been monitoring the dials. Here’s the latest as of Monday evening (we realize Trump could post at any moment):
Defense: National security leaders approached Joni Ernst and said she’d be a good secretary of Defense. She has expressed interest in the job, but “sources said the conversations had not yet escalated to anything official, and she is not actively pushing herself for the position.” Two House Republican Mikes, Reps. Mike Waltz and Mike Rogers, had also been floated. Waltz was reportedly appointed be Trump’s national security adviser.
Interior: Markwayne Mullin will likely get a cabinet gig, and it’s looking like it could be Interior. Mullin led Native American outreach on Trump’s campaign and would be the second Native American to run the department after current Secretary Deb Haaland. But Trump could go a different direction here. Reese and NOTUS’ Riley Rogerson report that Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has also had discussions about the job with Trump’s transition team, which is led by close Dunleavy ally Linda McMahon.
Veterans Affairs: Reese hears Mullin is also in contention for this cabinet gig.
Read the reporting here and here and here.
119th House GOP Won’t Shake the 118th House GOP’s Problems
Even if Republicans take the House majority, GOP lawmakers aren’t expecting sunshine and rainbows.
Republicans only need to win a couple more races to clinch a paper-thin majority and secure a trifecta, but with Trump appointing Elise Stefanik to his cabinet, the margins could come down to just one or two votes. That would give any House Republican de facto veto power over Speaker Mike Johnson’s agenda. (That didn’t go so well last time.)
As one House Republican put it to NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt and Reese Gorman, “It’s going to be hard to pass anything anyways.” A two-seat majority “for us is basically us being in the minority. Especially if the speaker can’t get a hold of his conference.”
Democrats’ Message Scavenger Hunt
House Democrats are looking to counter the GOP’s America First movement. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders want to embrace economic policy that benefits the working class. Rep. Tom Suozzi thinks Democrats should turn on transgender student athletes. And Rep. Summer Lee just wants a second to think about “what the Democratic Party is — not what we want to be — but what we actually are right now.”
“I would be lying if I said that strategy is fully baked at this point,” California Rep. Jared Huffman told NOTUS.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- The New Pro-Life Playbook, by Emma Green of The New Yorker
- As Trump Threatens a Wider Trade War, the U.S. Confronts a Changed China, by Peter S. Goodman of The New York Times
- Secret Meetings, Big Money Drove Republicans’ Senate Wins, by Lindsay Wise and John McCormick of The Wall Street Journal
- Despite Trump’s Win, School Vouchers Were Again Rejected by Majorities of Voters, by Eli Hager and Jeremy Schwartz of ProPublica
- An Army general’s final ‘walk’ at the Tomb of the Unknowns, by Matt White of Task & Purpose
Be Social
Some dreams are just too far out of reach.
Next thing Trump should get all 3 GOP leader candidates to agree to: close all Senate votes exactly after 20 minutes
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) November 10, 2024
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