If Only Someone Could Have Warned Them  —  Why Republicans refused to see the truth about Trump until it was too late.  —  If you were a Republican hoping that Donald Trump would either quietly fade away or become muted and “presidential” in the run-up to 2024, you didn't have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

Just Wait Until You Get to Know Ron DeSantis  —  Governor Ron DeSantis has a growing store of admirers.  This includes many who have watched the cantankerous Floridian only from afar.  They have heard glowing things.  He was the biggest winner of an otherwise dark election cycle for Republicans.

The GOP's same-sex marriage evolution: A slow, choppy tidal shift  —  Thom Tillis has helped ink plenty of bipartisan deals over the past two years.  His advocacy for protecting same-sex marriage rights still surprised some of his fellow senators.  —  “When people first saw me get involved …

House January 6 committee chairman says panel ‘close to putting pens down’ on final report  —  The chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol said Tuesday that the panel is “close to putting pens down” on its final report, which is slated for release by the end of this Congress.

House Democrats will elect a new generation of leaders Wednesday  —  WASHINGTON — House Democrats will elect their new leadership team Wednesday morning, ushering in a younger generation of leaders after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer decided to step aside after Democrats narrowly lost the majority this month.

Twitter ends its ban on covid misinformation  —  Doctors and public health officials say Musk's decision is a ‘huge step backwards’ and will lead to more deaths  —  Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against coronavirus misinformation, worrying experts who say the move …

SBF says he secretly donated to Republicans as much as Democrats  —  Sign up for Semafor Flagship: A global, insightful daily briefing.  —  Your Email addressSign Up  —  Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange service FTX, revealed in a new interview that he donated …

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy  —  A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes of seditious conspiracy for leading a months-long plot to unleash political violence to prevent the inauguration of President Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Jiang Zemin, Leader Who Guided China Into Global Market, Dies at 96  —  Mr. Jiang, a wily and garrulous politician, presided over a decade of meteoric economic growth in the post-Tiananmen era.  —  Jiang Zemin, the Shanghai Communist kingpin who was handpicked to lead China …

Bibi's Back: A Conversation With Israel's New Prime Minister  —  'How many leaders have come back from political death, not once, but twice?  I've come back.  The question is: what am I coming back for?' … Bari Weiss: Prime Minister Netanyahu, thank you so much for being here.

Herschel Walker's stumbles complicate final stretch of his runoff bid  —  As a surge of Georgia voters streamed to the polls this weekend, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock headlined a half-dozen rallies across metro Atlanta.  Herschel Walker, his Republican opponent, was nearly invisible, without a public event for five days.

Braun to run for Indiana governor, opening Senate seat in 2024  —  Indiana Sen. Mike Braun is running for governor, according to paperwork filed with the secretary of state's office Tuesday.  —  POLITICO reported in September that Braun, elected to the Senate in 2018 after defeating former Sen. Joe Donnelly …

FTX's Collapse Validates Gary Gensler's Crypto Skepticism  —  If you're looking to apportion blame for the collapse of FTX, there are quite a few worthy candidates.  Start with founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who under the banner of “effective altruism”—a 4chan thread of a moral philosophy …

No Dissent on Abortion Allowed at Hogan Lovells  —  The global law firm fired me for defending the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision.  —  After the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June, global law firm Hogan Lovells organized an online conference call for female employees.

Oath Keepers: 'How I escaped my father's militia'  —  The son of militia leader Stewart Rhodes spent years plotting to help his family escape from his father's control.  Now that the elder Rhodes faces decades in prison, the rest of the family is rebuilding their lives.  —  The time had come.

On City Streets, Fear and Hope as Mayor Pushes to Remove Mentally Ill  —  Mayor Eric Adams intends to remove people with severe, untreated mental illness from the streets.  That will mean involuntary hospitalization of people deemed unable to care for themselves.

US economy grew faster in third quarter than first estimated  —  The U.S. economy grew at a faster rate between July and September than federal officials first estimated, according to federal data released Wednesday.  —  U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate …

FDA Plans to Allow More Gay, Bisexual Men to Donate Blood  —  Current rules bar blood donations from men who recently had sex with men due to HIV transmission risk  —  Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships would be allowed to donate blood without abstaining from sex under guidelines …

Jacinda Ardern asked if meeting Finland's PM because they are ‘similar in age’, shuts that question down  —  She asked if that question was ever put to Barack Obama or John Key.  —  Jacinda Ardern has hit back at a question from a journalist around the reasons for her meeting with Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin.

Biden to honor tribes with Nevada national monument, his biggest yet  —  Tribes, environmentalists and many local officials support protecting nearly 450,000 acres around Spirit Mountain, but some developers warn it could hamper renewable energy projects  —  SEARCHLIGHT, Nevada …

China is planning an embassy in London on land with a royal past.  Residents want King Charles to intervene  —  Residents of an apartment complex that sits on a historic parcel of land opposite the Tower of London want Britain's King Charles to buy it back, claiming that its current owner …

Whip count: Here's how much trouble Kevin McCarthy is in  —  Would-be House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) appeared on Newsmax on Monday.  And rather strikingly, he floated a scenario for the upcoming vote to lead the House: “If we play games on the floor, the Democrats could end up picking who the speaker is.”