Geopolitics, macroeconomics, and domestic politics all combined for a wile ride in stocks today…
Geopolitics was a major headwind overnight as Putin signed a decree allowing Russia to use nuclear weapons in the event of a massive conventional attack on its soil. But, then that reversed as headlines suggested Iran is looking to de-escalate (IRAN AGREES TO STOP PRODUCING NEAR BOMB-GRADE URANIUM: IAEA).
All of that prompted a roller-coaster in stocks with Nasdaq ending the best (and Small Caps recovering dramatically from overnight weakness). The Dow desperately tried to get green but failed (even with help from WMT)…
Then Musk sparked some chaos in media stocks as he tweeted: “No advertising for pharma”…
Source: Bloomberg
Shorts were squeezed today from the cash open…
Source: Bloomberg
Mega-Cap Tech rallied significantly on the day, bouncing off pre-election levels ahead of tomorrow’s NVDA earnings…
Source: Bloomberg
VIX was higher on the day with tomorrow’s risk event priced in (though less than typical for an NVDA earnings day)…
Source: Bloomberg
US Macro data disappointed – housing starts and permits were ugly – which helped pull bond yields lower (along with chatter about potential ‘safe’ picks for Treasury Secretary)…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin continued its charge higher, topping $94,000 – a new record high in USD terms…
Source: Bloomberg
…and coming within a few points of an all-time record high against gold…
Source: Bloomberg
…even as gold started to rally back from its post-election doldrums too…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices dipped on the Iran headlines but overall it appears geopolitical uncertainty is adding some premium back into the energy complex…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, US equities are currently pricing a very optimistic growth environment…
Source: Goldman Sachs
Goldman’s sector model leads them to recommend overweight positions in Materials, Software & Services, and Utilities. From an investment strategy perspective, they invoke the dictum of Donald Trump to “protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself.”
Great News Consumers: Olive Oil Bear Market Worsens As Harvests Improve
Spain’s Deoleo, the world’s largest olive oil producer, stated that the multi-year drought-driven crisis, which caused prices of “liquid gold” to surge, is ending as a favorable 2024-25 harvest gets underway in Spain. This suggests that olive oil prices at supermarkets are expected to decline in the months ahead.
Miguel Ángel Guzmán, chief sales officer at Deoleo, told CNBC, “We are still going through a phase of tension in olive oil prices, especially in the higher quality oils, such as extra virgin.
“However, the outlook is positive for the coming months, as the market is expected to begin to stabilize and normality is expected to be gradually restored as the new harvest progresses and supply increases,” Guzmán said.
He added, “Although there have been steps towards improvement, it would not be entirely accurate to say that the crisis is over.”
Spot prices for Spanish Olive Oil Extra Virgin peaked at 8,835 euros a ton in late January and have since tumbled into a bear market (-43.5%), sliding to around 5,145 euros by late fall. This is mainly because estimates point to improved harvests in the top-producing countries of Spain, Greece, and Tunisia.
Bloomberg’s Javier Blas pointed out, “Retail olive oil prices will follow down very soon (they have already in origin countries like Spain / Italy).”
CHART OF THE DAY: As the 2024-25 harvest gets underway in Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean, **wholesale** olive oil prices have crashed.
Now that the election is in the rearview mirror, the focus now turns to what the next four years are going to look like in a second Trump term. From all indications, things will not be business as usual.
Trump Turns The Tables
After being inaugurated as president in 2009, Barack Obama met with congressional Republicans to discuss his economic plans. There was a lot of complaining and pushback from the Republicans, but Obama made it clear he was going to push through his programs whether they liked it or not.
In a smarmy tone, Obama told the Republican leaders, “Elections have consequences” and added, “I won” for good measure. Obama did not have many major accomplishments, but he did push through Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) and signed many executive orders to force changes in immigration law and to implement other preferences.
The phrase, “elections have consequences” was continually trotted out to make the point that winners can do what they want.
Now, events have come full circle.
Donald Trump not only won the White House in a landslide Electoral College vote and a majority of the popular vote, but his party took control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now it’s the Republicans who are turning the tables on Obama’s famous quote.
A Defensive Change
Take Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense, for instance. Trump appointed Pete Hegseth, Major in the U.S. Army, combat veteran with service in Iraq and Afghanistan, winner of two Bronze Stars, and graduate of Princeton and Harvard. He is well-qualified, but not a conventional choice in the sense that he does not emerge from the swamp of the military-industrial complex. He’s a fierce opponent of “woke” policies that are weakening our military and hurting enlistments. He’s determined to force the retirement or resignation of a large cadre of generals and admirals who are more interested in political correctness than they are in combat readiness.
The Trump transition team is also creating a “Warrior Board” that will systematically review senior officers (so-called “Flag Officers” consisting of generals and admirals) to identify those who are overly political, woke, or supported former Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff Mark Milley. Many will be forced out, which is not only good for morale but also creates space in the highest ranks for promotions of deserving Majors and Colonels.
More Disrupters
Or take two of his more “controversial” picks (if you listen to the hyperventilating of the mainstream media).
Tulsi Gabbard has been nominated to be the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). She is a former member of Congress and a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army with deployments to Iraq. She received both a Meritorious Service Medal and a Combat Medical Badge. Gabbard is assigned to the Army Reserve’s Psychological Operations Command, which is perhaps the best possible background for an intelligence chief. But yet, many are screaming “no experience”!
Matt Gaetz has been nominated to be the next Attorney General of the United States. He has a first-class legal mind and excellent cross-examination skills, which will be needed in the course of prosecuting bureaucrats who committed illegal acts during the Biden-Harris years. Again, Washington and the media are panicking at the thought of Gaetz heading the DOJ.
Historian Victor Davis Hanson sums up the Trump appointments battle best:
“Many of Trump’s first-round picks share some common themes. One, many, who were in the past victimized by government bullies and cowardly bureaucratic grandees, or proved sharp critics of the administrative state, are now, in karma-style, in charge of the very agencies that hounded him. So, Elon Musk, a perennial target of government regulatory functionaries, was once policed, but now he polices the bureaucratic police. Robert Kennedy, Jr., proposed overseer of government health programs, was often blasted as a crank by the subsidized scientists and the administrators within HHS whom he will now direct. Pete Hegseth fought the military DEI machinery while a soldier in the ranks and wrote a book about the corruption of the Pentagon. He will now, if confirmed, run the Pentagon. Tulsi Gabbard was improperly put on a national security travel watch list as a supposed security threat — and now will be a guardian of our security as Director of National Intelligence. Tom Homan was derided by the Biden administration and its Homeland Security minions as a fanatic border hawk; now he will run ICE and deal with the detritus of Biden fanaticism on the border. Two, none of these appointments are traditional swamp creatures. Few rotate from the think tanks. This time around there are no retired “Wise Men” or retired four-stars. Few are Uniparty magnificoes revolving back into high government from their DC university or New York corporate and investment waystations. None are DEI, cover-our-identity-politics-base candidates. By design, their past government service resumes are thin — few past undersecretaries of these or special assistants to those. And there are not a lot of suffixed alphabetic letters or prefixed long-winded titles that adorn their names. In other words, they are vaxed from the sort of acculturated administrative state mindset that has alienated and terrified the citizenry.”
Terrified, indeed.
Trump’s selections are what is needed to clean up the stink of Washington. Trump was the new kid in town in 2016 and failed to penetrate the Swamp. This time will be different and it will be like a breath of fresh air in the Beltway.
Give Obama credit where it’s due. Elections definitely have consequences.
Jaguar Attempts To ‘Bud Light’ Itself With Cringeworthy Woke Ad
British sports car manufacturer Jaguar, one of the most celebrated motorsport brands, first gained prominence in the 1950s with its iconic C-Type and D-Type sports cars, securing seven victories at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jag launched the iconic E-Type at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show and has since produced stylish vehicles for the general public and racing teams.
Given Jaguar’s legacy of racing excellence, their marketing team has just nuked the brand in a manner reminiscent of Bud Light’s controversial ad featuring Dylan Mulvaney, a man who identifies as a woman.
Jag’s new ad, published on X on Tuesday morning, is titled “Copy nothing.”
Yet it looks like their marketing team copied a scene from the movie Zoolander.
The X post was heavily ratio’d, and many people were utterly baffled by how tone-deaf Jaguar’s marketing team has become in an era increasingly shifting away from toxic woke ideology.
“Umm where are the cars in this ad? Is this for fashion?” X user Pixel Prett asked.
Jag’s social media team responded: “Think of this as a declaration of intent.”
It was recently reported that corrupt Pentagon officials are “scrambling” to wipe all evidence of DEI before President-elect Donald Trump steps back into the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Breitbart News wrote in its exclusive article that its sources stated that the Pentagon is in “absolute disarray” with “generals scrambling” because Trump plans to fire far-left senior military leaders who pushed DEI and other woke policies instead of taking care of combat readiness.
One source compared the organization’s situation to a hornet’s nest being kicked over, adding that “DEI pages are starting to disappear off the main websites.”
“They’re being archived as we speak. They are full-bore focused on cleaning up anything DEI-related,” the source stated.
Another anonymous person said that many Pentagon employees are afraid they will be fired, stating that “they are in panic mode.”
The recent news came after Trump gathered the names of senior officers who had pushed DEI. One Breitbart source familiar with the plan said that Trump’s team drafted an executive order to create a panel to recommend those senior officers for elimination and that the executive order is “definitely” going to Trump’s desk.
“This is for real. This [order] has made the cut,” the source said, noting that the executive order could be revised and consulted with incoming leaders at the Pentagon.
According to the sources, the order plans to “reorient the U.S. military away from the woke ideology and priorities that have been foisted upon it” since the Obama administration.
“Looks as if the Department of Defense has ordered an industrial shredder. WARNING: Shredding documents is a felony. We will not accept claims of ‘I was just doing my job.’ The hammer of Justice is coming,” the Department of Government Efficiency parody account stated.
Looks as if the Department of Defense has ordered an industrial shredder.
WARNING:
Shredding documents is a felony. We will not accept claims of “I was just doing my job.”
— DOGE – Department of Government Effeciency Parody (@realdogenews) November 16, 2024
Headline USA previously reported on Trump planning to fire far-left generals en masse.
The recent news came after Trump picked Army veteran Pete Hegseth as the head of the Department of Defense, which resulted in the Left seething over the pick.
“The Pentagon is legitimately scared of [Hegseth] because of his opposition to DEI — keep in mind, the Defense Department is spending around $86 BILLION on various DEI initiatives,” Kaylee McGhee White said. “Hegseth wants to root that out.”
“The Pentagon is legitimately scared of @PeteHegseth because of his opposition to DEI — keep in mind, the Defense Department is spending around $86 BILLION on various DEI initiatives,” says @KayleeDMcGhee.
Trump To Pick Lutnick For Commerce Secretary: Reports
In the latest unconfirmed report from “people familiar with the matter,” President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate veteran Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick to head up the Commerce Department – days after the Cantor Fitzgerald CEO was reportedly passed over to lead the Treasury Department.
Lutnick, who has the backing of several prominent allies including Elon Musk, has been a fierce advocate of Trump’s economic proposals – including a pledge to impose sweeping tariffs.
If confirmed, Lutnick would oversee the agency focused on ‘expanding US economic growth and boosting domestic industries,’ the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Commerce Secretary supports US businesses – often acting as an emissary between nations to negotiate trade deals and increase foreign investment. There are 13 bureaus within the department, including the US Patent and Trademark Office. The Commerce secretary works with other members of the president’s Cabinet who are similarly tasked with carrying out and advising on aspects of economic policy.
Lutnick reportedly edged out Robert Lighthizer – Trump’s US trade representative during his first term, and Linda McMahon, who administered the SBA from 2017 to 2019. According to CNN (so extra grains of salt), both were recently informed that Lutnick was getting the Commerce job.
Lutnick and McMahon have co-chaired Trump’s transition over the past several months – with Lutnick vetting people and advising Trump on Cabinet nominees, and McMahon running policy.
Last month, Lutnick said at a Madison Square Garden Trump rally that the US was the most prosperous during the early 1900s, when there was “no income tax and all we had was tariffs.“
“We had so much money that we had the greatest businessmen of America get together to try to figure out how to spend it,” said Lutnick, an advocate for higher tariffs.
Trump, meanwhile, has pledged to impose 60% tariffs on goods from China, and 10% tariffs on goods from other countries.
The reported nomination of Lutnick for commerce secretary suggests – as we detailed earlier – that the ‘safe’ pick of Warsh for Treasury Secretary and Bessent as NEC Director is in play.
As expected, escalation continues on multiple fronts, but de-escalation might be closer on one:Hezbollah (meaning Iran) had agreed to a US-proposed ceasefire with Israel “with comments.” If so, this reflects Tehran’s stance towards the incoming Trump administration: “Let’s negotiate.” Where that leads also remains to be seen. On the other hand, as we wait for Ukraine’s first ATACMS attack up to 300kms into Russia, the latter’s TV showed all the European countries its nukes can destroy. Sabre-rattling, yes, but worth thinking about, and noting here, over the price of a given financial asset.
Against that backdrop, another two key data cable connecting Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania have somehow been severed. EU Foreign Policy boss Borrell bowed out saying: “We are in a transition… but the world doesn’t stop. On the contrary, it accelerates, but in the wrong direction. More and more, the forces that challenges us require a quicker reaction from the EU… Trump represents an opportunity for the Europeans – not only to wake up… but to use our capacity and our system of working in order to make a clear voice in the world stage.” Following which he said that on ‘EU red line’ Chinese military drones being sent to Russia, “This report is not a report produced by my services, so I don’t know what is the feasibility of this report.” That’s a clear voice on the world stage: just not one anybody takes seriously. The ECB’s Lagarde later urged Europe to listen to Draghi and make itself one big economy, not many national ones, as “the world economy is fragmenting into geopolitical blocs centred around the largest economies.” So far that hasn’t prompted any major new thinking from European leaders though, just rhetoric.
In the US, the search for a Treasury Secretary continues: who can be mercantilist abroad, go-go capitalist at home, and reassure markets who hate the former –when the US does it – that they know what they are doing? And who also likes crypto given the Trump media group is apparently to bid for a key crypto trading platform, adding to the view that the sector has some form of president-elect backing. There are many thoughts on what this might mean, but on tariffs note the following two headlines:
‘Donald Trump tariffs would hurt the US defence sector, warns Beijing advisor’, says the FT, underlining that the US is so reliant on Chinese inputs that the Pentagon will suffer from freezing them out. If you are a certain kind of thinker, you conclude “Free trade it is then!” However, the fact a Chinese state think-tank is telling the US this leads another type of thinker to see that decoupling is an urgent priority for the Pentagon, helmed by Hegseth or not, despite any shocks to supply chains.
‘Lithium producer says west cannot end reliance on China in critical minerals’, the FT also says, as a CEO argues the price of this green metal has now fallen so far, as have those of Chinese lithium batteries, that it’s uneconomic for the US to build their own supply chains. Again, a certain type of thinker concludes “Free trade with China it is then!” Another scoffs that this instead makes the point that economic *policy* based on neoliberal ideology will be pushed aside by national security economic *statecraft*. (And don’t think this is ‘just lithium’: it’s MANY things.)
This continues my hypothesis that the way we think about things is changing radically, which will change what we *do*: and markets will follow.This wouldn’t be the first time such changes have happened, even if they are the first time for many individuals in markets now.
For example, in a recent interview industry veteran Grant Williams bewailed the following: “I kind of mourned the change in capital markets as a means to allocate capital over the long-term, to productive use, that will provide a steady long-term return on capital and will help grow a business. That’s what this was all about when I got into it 40 years ago, and I don’t recognize it anymore. I don’t have any of the conversations I have today that I had 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago – none. All people want to know about is the stock price. And that comes down also to CEOs of companies. The business is the stock price these days. And once you do that, once you change, this business to be about the stock price, you change every incentive that has been developed over hundreds of years of capitalism about how to build a sustainable business, how to reinvest profits, and grow a business.”
Sadly true: now add socio-economic/political polarisation and national security crises and think if things stay the same or change.
Relatedly, Foreign Policy notes ‘Russia’s Plans to Replace the Dollar Are Going Nowhere’, with the last BRICS meeting in Kazan seeing Moscow push: BRICS Pay (so visitors from BRICS countries can pay in Russia); BRICS Clear (to circumvent Euroclear, Clearstream, etc.); BRICS (Re)Insurance (vs. restrictions on Russian-owned aircraft and ships); a BRICS ratings agency; the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative (to facilitate payments between BRICS countries in their own FX); and, most of all, BRICS Bridge, to dump US/SWIFT intermediaries for international transactions made with BRICS central bank digital currencies. The latter would allow BRICS to avoid Western sanctions, monitor their economies, and control them as needed while “establishing a digitalized global financial architecture – betting that controlling emerging standards in the sector will enable them to weaponize global finance in the future.”
However, because doing this burns bridges with the US and West, “Interest from other BRICS members was so lukewarm that the scheme did not even make it into the final summit communiqué.” Again, a certain type of thinker says, “I was right not to pay any attention!” Another type notes, “Russia is unlikely to stop pressing, however: Developing non-Western financial mechanisms is an almost existential imperative for Moscow – and it highlights how finance has become a new arena for great-power competition.” Indeed, alongside control of physical supply chains –because it’s “uneconomic” or “bad economics” for the West to respond- the wheels will continue to slowly turn towards an eventual global change/rupture.
So, why are so few looking at the above trends and producing better integrated analysis? Partly because of what Mr. Williams said, partly as beans won’t count themselves, and partly due to what Branko Milanovic notes in his own recent pithy commentary: “At times, I think how incredibly trivial and boring many top economists are when they write about contemporary politics. Like they have never read Ricardo, Marx, Walras, Pareto, Schumpeter, Keynes, Kalecki… Why are their writings so banal? They are afraid – afraid to say anything original because, of course, original is no good. They do not know how to write well. They do not know history and politics. They are boring people with boring lives. Choose.”
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) incurred a significant increase in its losses this fiscal year, as revenues jumped but volumes dipped.
Net loss for 2024 fiscal totaled $9.5 billion, up from $6.5 billion last year, said a Nov. 14 statement from the agency reflecting its earnings. The $3 billion increase in losses occurred at the same time the agency had a slight revenue increase from $78.18 billion to $79.53 billion. The revenue uptick was not supported by an increase in mail volume, which fell from 116 billion units to 112 billion units.
According to the USPS Office of the Inspector General, the postal agency “relies almost entirely on the revenue generated from postage” to cover the costs of delivering mail.
The jump in net loss occurred despite an increase in postal rates by the agency. This increase, implemented in January and July, was done in accordance with the 2021 Delivering for America (DFA) plan that calls for such annual hikes.
The 10-year plan is reportedly aimed at boosting USPS’s financial situation.
The postal agency said that more than 80 percent of the loss incurred this year was due to factors “outside of management’s control,” such as adjustments related to employees’ non-cash compensation, according to the report.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the organization’s pricing and product strategies “are continuing to improve our revenue picture and fuel market share gains in our package business.”
Nonprofit advocacy Keep US Posted criticized the USPS for its large losses, blaming it on the agency’s focus on the DFA plan. The $9.5 billion loss is more than $3 billion above projections, said the nonprofit’s executive director, former congressman Kevin Yoder.
He attributed the losses to mail volume declines that negated the increase in package volumes. Yoder blamed DeJoy for pursuing the DFA’s “disastrous postage increases and misbegotten focus on packages over traditional mail, which is still the largest revenue-generator for USPS.”
“The bottom line is that these consistent financial losses are driven by stamp hikes which lead to disastrous mail volume losses, plus the complete failure of USPS to capture parcel market share in already crowded package delivery space.”
USPS chief financial officer Joseph Corbett said the ongoing trend of falling mail volume and rising package volume reinforces the agency’s commitment to fully implementing the DFA plan.
Adhering to the plan has resulted in cutting down work hours for the third straight year, resulting in $2.3 billion in annual savings, he claimed.
USPS and Price Hikes
When USPS last raised the price of stamps in July, it justified the decision by saying the hike was financially necessary for the agency, as per the DFA plan.
“USPS prices remain among the most affordable in the world,” it said.
Earlier in May, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) said the postal agency’s July price increase was in line with regulations and that there was no legal reason to reject the hikes. PRC is an independent agency tasked with regulatory oversight of USPS.
A group of senators criticized USPS in a letter in April for the “unsustainable” price hikes. After the agency began raising postage rates, “we began to see the disastrous effects in 2023,” they wrote, pointing to a decline of 11 billion pieces of mail volume that year and the $6.5 billion loss.
“Instead of connecting the two issues, USPS blamed inflation, despite mail prices nearly doubling inflation in that time period.”
In September, Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.) introduced the USPS SERVES US Act, which Keep US Posted says will allow the PRC to course-correct USPS decisions driving the agency into “financial ruin.”
The bill seeks to limit “negative effects” of the DFA plan, which has made mailing expensive for customers, it said.
“Since August 2021, there have been six unprecedented postage hikes—one every six months, well above inflation—that have hurt businesses, newspapers, nonprofit mailers, and individual Americans,” LaTurner noted.
“With each price hike, demand for mail, which is still the biggest revenue-generator for the USPS, declines, access to our postal network is threatened, and the USPS slips further into financial ruin.”
On Friday, the postal agency said it filed a notice with PRC for raising Shipping Services prices scheduled to take effect from Jan. 19. Prices for Mailing Services will remain unchanged due to which First-Class stamp prices will not be raised.
Oil Slides On UN Report Stating Iran Agrees To Halt Near Bomb-Grade Uranium Production
Oil prices are falling Tuesday on the headline that Iran has agreed to cease producing uranium which is enriched at near nuclear bomb grade levels.
Israeli and Western officials have long been worried that the more than year-long Gaza war, alongside the recent-tit-for-tat missile exchanges between Tehran and Tel Aviv, have accelerated the Islamic Republic’s push to achieve a nuke.
“Iran began enriching uranium at up to 60% levels in 2021,” Bloomberg reviews of what has put UN inspectors on edge.
“That material could quickly be upgraded to the 90% level typically used in nuclear weapons, prompting concern across Europe and the U.S. Iran still has enough fuel on hand to produce a handful of warheads, should its leadership make a political decision to move forward,” the report continues.
But then a key line based on a 12-page IAEA report:
Monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that Iran has begun implementing measures “aimed at stopping the increase of its stockpile,” according to a 12-page report seen by Bloomberg News. The Islamic Republic’s engineers have already taken the first steps necessary to cap output, the report said.
Could this be the Trump effect happening in real time?
Tehran has expressed willingness to work with the incoming Trump administration, and is of course fully aware that some pro-Israel hawks have already been placed in key positions (most notably Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, and Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel).
But some top Iranian officials are still waiving the nuclear threat around…
⚡️GAME CHANGER
Ayatollah Khamenei’s top advisor, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, says that Iran can achieve Nuclear Deterrence in 24 hours, while our enemies predicted that it will take us 48 hours pic.twitter.com/RfLK7p9oVW
The reality is that Tehran knows that Trump will carry a big stick, and will be more willing to give Israel a wide berth for conducing offensive action against the Islamic Republic. Tehran could now be trying to show President-elect Trump that it’s taking serious steps to deescalate things.
Musk Goes All In On ‘Judge Dredd’ Matt Gaetz, Notes ‘Douchebag’ Garland Never Brought Charges
Elon Musk has come out swinging for Rep. Matt Gaetz, as the Florida lawmaker and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general faces scrutiny over sexual misconduct allegations that may throw his Senate confirmation into disarray.
“Matt Gaetz has 3 critical assets that are needed for the AG role: a big brain, a spine of steel and an axe to grind,” Musk wrote in a Tuesday post on X. “He is the Judge Dredd America needs to clean up a corrupt system and put powerful bad actors in prison,” Musk continued, adding “Gaetz will be our Hammer of Justice.”
Musk also addressed the allegations, saying he considers them “worth less than nothing,” as “Under our laws, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty.
“If AG Garland (an unprincipled douchebag) could have secured a conviction against Gaetz, he would have, but he knew he could not.
“Case closed.”
As for these accusations against him, I consider them worth less than nothing. Under our laws, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty.
If AG Garland (an unprincipled douchebag) could have secured a conviction against Gaetz, he would have, but he knew he could not.…
Senators on both sides of the aisle are requesting more information into a House ethics probe of Gaetz which allegedly contains accusations that Gaetz paid for sex with a woman who was 17 at the time. The DOJ investigated the allegations, but decided in February of 2023 not to file any charges against him. Gaetz has denied the allegations.
