🇺🇸 He's Back

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Good morning, and happy Wednesday! After being freed from prison, he immediately hugged the judge who sentenced him decades earlier…

Plus, this man who ate 40 rotisserie chickens in 40 days says it felt like 'the right thing to do'...

Also, today's Flag Find is the ultimate work-from-home hack...

FLAG POLLS

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 44, Disapprove 54 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Direction of Country: Right Direction 28, Wrong Track 65 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 39, Disapprove 57 (Reuters/Ipsos)

🐎 2022 Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans 43, Democrats 48 (Politico/Morning Consult)

TRENDING

Left: GOP puts on a show of disunity as it edges toward House majority (CNN)

Left: Donald Trump's Lawyers Compare Him To Persecuted Historical Genius In Twitter Ban (Huffington Post)

Left: What Trump vs. DeSantis says about the future of the American right (Vox)

Right: The Midterms Showed How the Pro-Life Movement Can Win (National Review)

Right: DeSantis Responds To Repeated Attacks From Trump (Daily Wire)

Right: Lake joins list of MAGA supporters bombing races as midterm elections reach their end (Washington Examiner)

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QUICK CLICKS

Missile Hits Nato Member, Beyonce's Boast, Casey Anthony's Claims

World: Russian missiles cross into NATO member Poland, kill 2: senior US intelligence official (Fox News) + White House asks Congress for $37.7B in new Ukraine aid (The Hill)

US: Kevin McCarthy beats far-right challenger 188-31 to lead House GOP (CNN)

Entertainment: Beyonce and Jay-Z Are Tied for All-Time Most Grammy Nominations (Variety)

Economy: Wholesale prices rose 0.2% in October, less than expected, as inflation eases (CNBC)

US: Disgraced mom Casey Anthony accuses dad of shocking crime in new tell-all doc (NY Post)

US: Walmart reaches $3.1 billion deal to settle opioid lawsuits (Axios)

US: 'Edged weapon' used in 'targeted attack' of four slain Idaho college students, police say (NBC News)

POLITICS

He's Back

Last night former President Donald Trump announced he will seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024. If he secures the nomination and eventually wins the race he would become the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve nonconsecutive terms.

Reporting from the Right: Donald Trump announces 2024 re-election run for president (Fox News)

Reporting from the Left: Trump announces he's running for president again (POLITICO)

From The Flag: Speculation has surrounded Trump’s potential candidacy ever since President Biden took office in 2020. Over the summer Trump hinted he was getting ready to enter the race, while we examined a hypothetical Biden-Trump rematch this past spring. Here’s fresh commentary from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

American Politics Remain Infected with Trump and MAGA

• It’s remarkable that former President Trump continues to hold such sway over the GOP given his bombastic and yet self-pitying nature

• With Trump reasserting his control over the Republican party, expect political gridlock to be a way of life until 2024.

• Dave Chappelle reminded us why people love Trump – he’s an “honest liar” who isn’t shy about taking advantage of the system.

“Trump Is Weak, but the GOP Is Weaker” Paul Krugman, New York Times Opinion: “After their party’s disappointing performance in the midterms, Republican elites seem to have decided that Donald Trump is their big problem. … Will Trump secure the nomination despite elite qualms? If he doesn’t, will a man who has never shown any loyalty to his party or, for that matter, anyone but himself, sabotage the GOP out of spite? … I don’t think it’s romanticizing the past to say that once upon a time politicians who sought the presidency had to appear, well, presidential. That is, they had to display gravitas and dignity; whatever their behavior behind closed doors, in public they had to appear mature and self-controlled. Trump, however, comes across as 76 going on a very bratty 14. He veers, sometimes in consecutive sentences, between cringeworthy boasting (what kind of person describes himself as a stable genius?) and whining, between bombast and self-pity.”

“GOP’s extremism could fuel ‘Blue Wave’ in 2024” Juan Williams, The Hill Op-ed: “You are now warned. Next year there will be even more Republicans in Congress who deny that President Biden won the last presidential election. … And if former President Trump, the man who started the ‘Big Lie’ of election fraud, is back on the presidential ballot in 2024, the threat from those lies will continue to grow larger. … In the next two years, the inflated number of congressional Republican election deniers, combined with a likely narrow GOP House majority, gives Trump added leverage to demand a complete end to bipartisan deals. Trump’s plan will be to obstruct all congressional legislation. He wants the country to be politically polarized because his priority is making Biden look ineffective. … That means Trump will be busy with non-stop bullying of election deniers in Congress to get them to support him by engaging in political mischief aimed at Biden.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Trump is adored by his followers. Dave Chappelle explained why Dean Obeidallah, CNN Opinion

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

As Trump Seeks Nomination, Is He Holding Republicans Back?

• It’s time to move on from Trump, as despite some successes while in office, his caustic and abrasive personality assures failure.

• “Never Trumpers” are alive and well, because the establishment wants a return to the status quo – and they despise populism.

• No other Republican candidates could halt Trump’s rise before he won the White House – not even DeSantis can stop him now.

“Donald Trump’s Presidential Rerun” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: “We warned about Mr. Trump’s character in 2016, but once he was elected we covered him like any other President. We owed that to readers, and he had many policy successes: taxes and deregulation, energy security, judges, the Abraham Accords, correcting illusions about Iran, among others. But his character flaws—narcissism, lack of self-control, abusive treatment of advisers, his puerile vendettas—interfered with that success. Before Covid he was headed for re-election. But the damage from his shutdown of the economy combined with his erratic behavior in that crisis gave Joe Biden the opening to campaign for normalcy. Mr. Trump lost a winnable election. Had he accepted that defeat, he might now be poised for a comeback given Mr. Biden’s unpopularity. But Mr. Trump contested the outcome well past any reasonable limit and encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6. … The deadly riot will forever stain his legacy.”

“NeverTrump Fraternity Parties On” Roger Kimball, American Greatness: “Is Peggy Noonan back in the driver’s seat? … her Wall Street Journal column… (explained) in a subhead, ‘If (Republicans) aren’t serious about policy, they’ll nominate Trump in 2024 and lose a fourth straight election.’ … Of course, the NeverTrump speakers have been blaring that message since 2016. But someone flipped a switch, and the other bank of stereo speakers suddenly came to life, spouting the same message: The horrible ogre Donald Trump lost the midterm elections for the GOP. … Forget about ‘making America great again.’ The new mantra is ‘making globalism great again.’ Trump represented a frontal assault on that initiative. He may have helped middle-class Americans. But he cost the regime class billions. They will never forgive him. The results of the midterms and Trump’s rhetorical incontinence have emboldened the anti-Trump fraternity.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Not Even Ron DeSantis Can Stop Donald J. Trump for President Ali Alexander, The American Spectator

FLAG THIS

Over Half Say “Don’t Do It Donald” as DeSantis Gains Steam

Polling results released yesterday found 53% of registered voters say Trump definitely should not run for office again, while 12% said he probably shouldn’t.

On the flip side, 19% said he definitely should run, while 12% said he probably should.

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is gaining ground on Trump in the hypothetical matchup for the nomination. While 47% of Republicans or Republican-leaning Independents said they’d back Trump, 33% threw their support behind DeSantis — which is up 7% from a poll conducted earlier this month (POLITICO-Morning Consult).

FLAG FINDS

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Sound of Music on Broadway, 8 Billion, Adjective Order

On November 16, 1959, The Sound of Music made its debut on Broadway. It was a smash success right away, featuring a creative team made up of Broadway legends as well as an enormously popular and bankable star in Mary Martin. The musical drew enormous advance sales. Above is a promotional image featuring Martin as Maria von Trapp.

ABC News Australia: 8 Billion and Counting

Country Living: How to Properly Wash Fruits and Vegetables

Nautilus: How It Feels to Surf the World’s Biggest Wave

Today I Learned that native English speakers, when using multiple adjectives to describe a noun, have a tendency to put the adjectives in a particular order according to type.