🌊 RFK Jr., Destroyer of Pharma Stocks

Happy Birthday, Owen Wilson.

Wooow, today is Owen Wilson's birthday. You may not know this, but the Night at the Museum actor is actually a big history buff. In fact, he’s stated that one of his personal heroes is Winston Churchill. Now Winston Churchill may not have been a wedding crasher, but he was one hell of a beach crasher.

And on the subject of Winston Churchill, there’s a quote of his that may be particularly relevant for Bears fans today: “If you’re going through Hell, keep going.”

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Israel Hit Iran Nuclear Site

Israel's strike on Iran last month destroyed critical equipment needed for nuclear weapons development, making it significantly harder for Iran to build nuclear devices

• Israeli officials disclosed to Axios that the strike destroyed a specific hard-to-replace piece of equipment that’s a "bottleneck" in developing a nuclear weapon. Israel has said it will be able to track Iranian efforts to replace the equipment

• While Biden had told Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, the equipment was reportedly stored at a facility outside Iran's declared nuclear program, thereby preventing Iranian escalation

Dig Deeper

• A senior Israeli official told Axios that the strike on Iran’s facility left Iran’s nuclear program in a bind: "This equipment is a bottleneck. Without it the Iranians are stuck.” The official said Israel believes it can track any attempts by Iran to replace the destroyed equipment, thereby impeding Iran’s nuclear ambitions: “They will need to find another solution"

KEY STORY

Trump for Senate?

GOP leaders are pushing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to appoint Lara Trump, Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, to fill Marco Rubio's Senate seat after his expected appointment as Secretary of State

• Sens. Rick Scott and Katie Britt both endorsed Lara, RNC co-chair and wife of Eric Trump, last week, praising her RNC work and conservative credentials. Her appointment would aid the Senate’s MAGA wing

• The decision puts DeSantis in a bind: He must choose between Trump's daughter-in-law and his own allies, while potentially keeping the seat open for himself after his governorship ends in 2027

Dig Deeper

• A Lara Trump appointment would boost the Senate’s MAGA wing, enabling Trump to enact his agenda and appointments more easily. That wing suffered a defeat last week when Republicans elected Senator John Thune (R-ND) as Senate Majority Leader over Trump’s pick, Senator Scott

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KEY STORY

Pharma Stocks Tank

Pharmaceutical stocks tanked on Friday following Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health cabinet appointment. If approved, he will oversee the CDC, FDA, and NIH

• RFK has said he will “clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science”

• It became apparent that pharmaceutical investors expect a public health policy overhaul under RFK: Pharma stocks nosedived on Friday as Pfizer and Moderna fell 4.7% and 7.3%, respectively, while Ozempic producer Novo Nordisk fell 3.4%

Dig Deeper

• RFK ran his presidential campaign on improving public health and ending chronic disease, which he says is in part caused by the government selling out to large food and pharmaceutical companies. Kennedy ended that campaign and endorsed Trump in August

• While RFK is widely known for his vaccine skepticism, he said last week that he’s not going to “take vaccines away from anybody”

KEY STORY

Trump’s Latest Picks

On Saturday, Trump announced that Chris Wright, CEO of the fracking company Liberty Energy, will be his Secretary of Energy

• Also aligning with Trump’s “Drill, baby, drill!” slogan was his pick for Secretary of the Interior, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum

• Burgum responded on X, "I’m deeply grateful to President @RealDonaldTrump for this amazing opportunity to serve the American people and achieve ENERGY DOMINANCE!"

• Earlier in the week, Trump said he would appoint John Ratcliffe, Trump's former Director of National Intelligence, to lead the CIA

Dig Deeper

• As Director of National Intelligence, Ratcliffe made China his primary focus. In a 2020 WSJ op-ed, Ratcliffe wrote, "The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically"

• Trump is yet to make several key appointments, including the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, and Trade Representative

• With the Republicans holding a narrow majority in the Senate, it remains to be seen which Cabinet nominees will receive confirmation

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 The Financial Times reported that sources close to the Trump team said that Trump’s goal is to bankrupt Iran to force the country into negotiations over its nuclear program

🇮🇷 The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran promised President Biden it would not kill Trump. The promise reportedly came after the Biden administration told Iran last month that an attack on Trump would be considered an act of war

🇺🇦 President Biden authorized Ukraine to use long-range US missiles against targets inside Russia

🇨🇳 TikTok owner ByteDance neared a $300B valuation as the company’s shareholders bet that Trump’s election made a ban less likely

🇺🇸 Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is raising $6B to buy 100,000 Nvidia chips

COMMUNITY

🧠 Today’s question: With Thanksgiving approaching, we’re curious: Is your extended family politically diverse? Will there be a range of views at your table? Does politics divide your family?

Reply to this email to let us know what you think!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🇺🇸 Diddy’s Not-So-Happy Birthday: Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused of using a birthday video featuring his children to influence potential jurors

🍫 Truffles in Trouble: Swiss chocolatier Lindt is facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it deceptively marketed its chocolate as "expertly crafted with the finest ingredients" despite containing significant levels of lead and cadmium

🇺🇸 Trump’s Victory Walk: Donald Trump attended the sold-out UFC at Madison Square Garden with a full entourage that included Elon Musk, UFC CEO Dana White, Donald Trump Jr., Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Vivek Ramaswamy

🦘 A Florida Story in Colorado: Durango, Colorado police responded to a report of a diaper-wearing baby kangaroo wandering downtown

🇺🇸 Gen Alpha Has Lost it Already: A South Carolina teacher filed a sexual harassment complaint against a 10-year-old student for allegedly hugging her inappropriately by pressing his body against hers multiple times

ROCA WRAP

Banana Ban

Sweden

This country's gender equality minister requires all rooms to be banana-free before entering.

A Scandinavian nation known for its progressive politics and emphasis on equality, Sweden has a reputation for practical, no-nonsense governance. The country's cabinet ministers typically make headlines for policy initiatives rather than personal quirks, making a recent revelation particularly noteworthy.

Last week it emerged that Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg's staff have been sending advance emails to ensure all premises are completely banana-free before her visits. The minister describes her condition as "sort of an allergy" and says she receives professional help for it, though in now-deleted social media posts she called it the "world's craziest phobia.”

Government communications obtained by Swedish tabloid Expressen reveal detailed instructions to various institutions, from the Norwegian Judicial Agency to the Swedish Parliament Speaker, requesting the removal of all bananas and even "traces of bananas" before the minister's arrival.

While bananaphobia isn't officially classified in medical literature, fears of specific foods fall under the category of isolated phobias in the International Classification of Diseases.

For Sweden's gender equality minister, it seems ensuring workplace equality includes equal access to banana-free spaces.

Roca Video
How Kamala Harris Blew a Billion Dollars

How do you go from a billion dollars to $20M in debt just four months later? In this video, we will investigate the claims circulating the internet (Did Oprah get $1M? Are campaign staffers going unpaid? Did Beyoncé get $10M?) and do an autopsy of Kamala Harris 2024. It’s time to swim through the murky waters of campaign finance and find out what's true and what's false.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

We hope you had a great weekend. Max F spent last night in Gary, IN, at the front end of another reporting trip to the Rust Belt. Max T will be meeting him tomorrow morning in Cleveland, OH. This region — despite being known for its relative boredom — is fascinating to us and receives a fraction of the attention it deserves. We look forward to sharing more on our travels with you.

–Max and Max

P.S. What wins for Max F’s Bills and Max T’s Steelers! No need to bring up the Notre Dame v. UVA matchup, however. We can’t let anything divide us.