🌊 Robotaxis Need Waymo Speed

A note from a reader that made our day.

“I just wanted to extend a huge thank you to your team -- because of your non-partisan reporting and video interviews, my husband and I had a different perspective going into this election compared to other people we know. We were not surprised at all of the results, and we felt we were very informed and confident in who we picked for the presidency. It was a lot of fun watching your videos and getting a perspective unlike any in the mainstream media. I grew up loving journalism, but became disenfranchised after college once I realized media corporations create narratives to ultimately support ad revenue. I love that your team upholds the original purpose of journalism for our society, which is to be the watchdog of democracy. Thank you for your unbiased, in depth reporting. Keep it up!”

This was one of the many inspiring notes we received from the Roca community this week. Thank you, and we promise to never stray from our mission. Happy Friday!

Link to 20 Questions!

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

End of Trump’s Trials?

The Justice Department is preparing to end its federal criminal cases against President-elect Trump before he takes office, per various media reports

• Officials acknowledge that no trial is possible before Trump takes office in either the January 6 or classified documents cases. Once Trump takes office, prosecuting him wouldn’t be realistic

• Trump still faces state cases in Georgia and New York, where sentencing is scheduled for November 26. Sentencing him now would interfere with his presidential duties and therefore won’t happen, meaning resolution of those cases will delayed years, if not forever

• Trump’s campaign has said his victory entails "an overwhelming mandate" to end the "weaponization of our justice system"

Dig Deeper

• Shortly after Trump's victory, Trump Adviser Steven Bannon – who was jailed on contempt of court charges – said Trump may show “pity” on those who prosecuted him because he “has a big heart,” but warned Special Counsel Jack Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland to “lawyer up”

KEY STORY

Trump Appoints Wiles Chief of Staff

Donald Trump appointed campaign co-chair Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff

• The chief of staff manages White House operations. They are often the first presidential appointment

• Wiles ran Trump’s Florida campaign in 2016 and 2020 before becoming his national campaign co-chair in 2024. She’s known as a calm operator who has been credited with professionalizing Trump’s campaigns

• Wiles – who will become the US’ first female chief of staff – has said she tries to give Trump “lots of inputs.” Politico called her the “the most feared and least known political operative in America”

Dig Deeper

• “Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Trump said in a statement. He called her “tough, smart, innovative, and…universally admired and respected,” while adding, “Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again. It is a well deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female chief of staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud”

ROCA’S SPONSOR

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KEY STORY

Slow, Pricey Robotaxis

A new Forbes study found that Waymo robotaxis are slower and 25% more expensive than ridesharing services like Uber or Lyft

• Waymo – a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet – is a robotaxi company that offers driver-free rides in four US cities

• Of 50 rides Forbes called for the same routes, Ubers and Lyfts averaged 15:20-minute total trip times vs. 33:58 minutes for Waymos

• Notably, while there were no crashes during the experiment, Waymo robotaxis drove conservatively compared to the average ridesharing driver

Dig Deeper

• During the study, the Waymos didn't just drive slowly to their destinations: The average pickup wait time was 7.2 minutes for Waymos compared to 3.4 for Ubers and Lyfts

KEY STORY

Harris Doubles Trump’s Spending

Despite losing, Kamala Harris' campaign dominated fundraising, spending roughly double what Trump's campaign spent

• The Harris campaign raised $1.2B from millions of donors. From July 22 through Election Day, her campaign and the DNC spent $654.6M on ads. During the same period, Trump spent $378.9M on ads

• In swing states, Harris spent vastly more on ads than Trump. In Michigan, for example, Biden and Harris spent $81M on ads from March 2024 through election day, while Trump spent just $18M there. Nevertheless, he won the state by 1.4 percentage points

• Despite her fundraising edge, a Politico reporter claims her campaign has “at least” $20M of debt

Dig Deeper

• Harris dominated Trump on both ends of the fundraising spectrum: Small-dollar donors and billionaires. According to OpenSecrets, the Harris campaign raised over $400M from small donors compared to just $100M for the Trump campaign

• Among billionaires, a Forbes analysis found that 83 billionaires supported Harris while 52 supported Trump. This includes donations to super PACs aligned with each candidate

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 In his first speech since Donald Trump’s victory, President Joe Biden promised to transfer power peacefully

🇩🇪 Germany’s governing coalition collapsed, marking only the third government collapse in Germany's 75-year modern history

🇮🇱 Israel announced plans to expand its ground offensive in Lebanon

🇺🇸 The US Federal Reserve unanimously decided to cut interest rates by a quarter point, bringing them to between 4.5-4.75%

🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his victory and said he was “ready” to talk to him

COMMUNITY

🧐 Yesterday’s question: Would Biden have done better?

Community
20 Questions!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Weeknd.

For the first time in two years, we are bringing back the RAPID FIRE TRIVIA EDITION of 20 Questions. We will give you 2 possible answers for 20 trivia questions. You respond with the answer you think is correct. Next week, we'll include the percentages who got each one correct. Obviously these are Google-able, but please don't – we aren't worth impressing.

Here is the link.

Last Week’s Responses

Highlights from last week’s 20 Questions.

What's the weirdest food combo that you love?
baby carrots and chik-fil-a sauce. I discovered this in my dorm when i was snacky and that's all I had. I wasn't about to eat dry carrots!

Triple decker egg sandwich on whole wheat toast with bacon, peanut butter & strawbery jam.

Cinnamon raisin toast with smoked salmon

Throw a chocolate chip cookie on a plain McDouble (the fixings throw things off for me but leave on the cheese).. It's a great combo of salty and sweet.

Spicy chips and dark chocolate

Dream dinner party involving three people that lived before 1900?

Jesus (unlimited wine hack, plus I have soooo many questions); Shakespeare (who was he really?); and Jane Austen, because she was ahead of her time.

Alexander the Great, Mary Magdalene, My 3x great grandma that lead her family from Virginia to Scotsbluff, NE walking in just 1 boot

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain

Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, and Chuck Norris

Richard Trevithick (inventor of Trains), John Paul Jones (bad ass dude), and your mom (burn)

What's your quirkiest talent?

I can move my scalp in all directions

I can make anything awkward

I build cigar box ukuleles

I'm the dumbest guy in any room I walk into

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🚗 No Such Thing as Free Miles: A Hertz customer who drove 25,000 miles in one month on an "unlimited miles" deal was hit with a $10,000 bill and threatened with arrest when he disputed the charge

🚴 Victim Charging: An Oregon ambulance service billed a 71-year-old cyclist $1,862 for transporting him to the hospital after hitting him with their vehicle

🐒 Monkey Business in South Carolina: Forty primates escaped from a research facility in Yemassee, South Carolina

🏥 Hospital Bed Banking: A Chinese bank forced a severely ill man to be wheeled into their branch on his hospital bed to verify his identity for a money transfer

🇭🇰 Cute Kid – Now Have One: Amid record-low birth rates, a Hong Kong lawmaker has proposed displaying baby photos in government offices to encourage civil servants to have children

Roca Video
How Gen Z Won Trump the Election

What we saw Tuesday night was the American electorate turned upside down. Trump won in a landslide. Not only did he win the electoral college; he won the popular vote by a substantial margin. And even more surprising is that he did both of these things while losing a share of the white vote and old vote, which previously comprised his base. After reviewing the data, Trump won because of Gen Z.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

What an exhausting week. But, thankfully, now we know about some new snacks that will make us feel better: Cinnamon raisin toast with smoked salmon, a triple decker egg sandwich on whole wheat toast with bacon, peanut butter & strawberry jam, and a plain McDouble with a chocolate chip cookie on top.

Have a great weekend. We love you, Roca Nation!

–Max and Max