Good morning! We all love Veterans Day don’t we, folks? Every November 11, Americans engage in the time-honored tradition of honoring our loved ones who fought for our right to wear sweatpants to Walmart and doomscroll through misleading TikToks for days on end during snowstorms.

Things are no different for some lady named Kelly Neumann, who tossed up a Veterans Day post on Facebook (lol) about how awesome her grandpa was. Only she’s not just some lady. She’s a political activist who’s currently serving as finance co-chair for major Democratic candidates in Michigan. Aaaand her grampy didn’t fight for us. He fought “on the German side.” In World War 1. And World War 2. When “Germany lost in WWII,” gramps casually "escaped to Brazil.” Yadda, yadda, yadda, some PR person in Michigan is writing an apology note and our girl Kelly is getting a lesson in reading the room.

NUMBERS

📊 Census Bureau drops sick new 2025 population estimates

Okay, that was bait. This isn’t actually sick (unless you are). It’s at least mildly interesting, though, and could have a big effect on future presidential elections.

In a deep, dark, mathy hole at the U.S. Department of Commerce lies the Census Bureau. Its time to shine comes every ten years during the actual, y’know, census. But the bureau’s math nerds still work hard during off-years compiling annual population estimates. Since they don’t come from the actual door-to-door census, these are just estimates.

• But they’re gathered using a very complex process involving info from a gigantic survey, IRS data, birth and death stats, and more.

• Knowing where everyone actually lives is important, and these estimates help the feds dole out hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

This process takes a while, so the time period here is already a little old. It runs from July 2024 to July 2025.

Growing states: The top five were South Carolina, Idaho, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah. They all grew by between 1.46% and 1.03%. Texas came in fifth, but grew the most in terms of raw numbers and gained a net 391,000 people.

Shrinking states: All but five states grew last year. The five losers were Vermont, Hawaii, West Virginia, New Mexico, and California. They all shrunk by between 0.29% and 0.02%.

Totals: The country as a whole grew by 1.8 million (~0.5%) to 341.8 million people. That’s a good deal less growth than last year, thanks in part to less international migration.

• From July 2024 to July 2025, a net 1.3 million people moved here from around the world.

• The previous year, that number was 2.7 million (Note that this doesn’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigration).

So why does this matter politically? Because of the Electoral College. Before the 2032 presidential election, Electoral College votes will get redistributed based on official 2030 Census data. And if the trends of the past few years continue, it’s going to be bad news for Democrats.

• All five of the fastest-growing states regularly vote Republican for president.

• And the five states that are losing people? Four of them vote Democratic.

Depending on how you calculate the projections, states Trump won in 2024 are set to gain anywhere from 9 to 11 Electoral College votes. States Harris won would lose that same amount. This basically nets Republicans a free Wisconsin or Arizona.

• In 2024, Trump and Harris fought hard over the three Midwestern swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

• But if these numbers were in force then? Trump wouldn’t need to win any of those states.

That said, we’re only at the halfway point. A lot can change before the Census Bureau hires 500,000 temps to hit the pavement in 2030.

Speaking of political geography…

1. Bad for Rs: New York Republicans are appealing a state court's decision to force the Democratic legislature to redraw of the lines of NYC's only Republican-controlled U.S. House seat.

2. Bad for Ds: Virginia Democrats are appealing a state court ruling to block them from redrawing the state’s congressional map and likely picking up four U.S. House seats from Republicans

3. R drama: Some Indiana Republicans are facing Trump-backed primary challengers for refusing his demand to redraw the state’s House districts and knock out two Democrats.

4. D drama: Over in Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore (D) is taking aim at the Democratic state senate leader for refusing to redraw the map and knock out the state’s lone Rebublican congressman.

GOVERNMENT

💰️ Most of the federal government runs out of money on Saturday. And, in light of recent events in Minnesota, Senate Democrats are threatening to force a partial government shutdown. Unless specific changes are made to the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents operate, they plan to block Republicans from funding the government. Their list of demands includes the addition of body cameras, the removal of masks, the end of roving street patrols, and big changes to when warrants are required for ICE arrests. Meanwhile, Trump has shifted his immigration strategy (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is worried that involves firing her), he’s in trouble with the NRA for comments about Alex Pretti’s (legal) gun, and he warned that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is “PLAYING WITH FIRE” by not cooperating with the feds on immigration enforcment.

🎨 Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has named traditional design advocate Justin Shubow chairman of his department’s new Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council (BTIC). Following Trump’s 2025 executive order on “Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again,” the BTIC will advise Duffy on “aesthetic value” and how to safely make the country’s transportation infrastructure — highways, bridges, train stations, airports, etc. — look a little less like a second-grader’s art project than they often do.

TRIVIA

Monday marked the 47th anniversary of the heart attack that unfortunately killed noted gazillionaire and former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. All deaths are unfortunate, of course, but this one was especially so. As the legend goes, Nelson Rockefeller died doing what he loved: his 25-year-old secretary.

With his eternal embarrassment out of the way, let’s get on with today’s question. Shortly after taking over the big chair after Nixon’s 1974 resignation, President Gerald Ford selected former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to serve as his VP.

That’s an option that wasn’t available to most previous presidents. For most of American history, there was no legal way to fill an empty VP slot. It just sat there, empty until the next election. That changed in 1967. Which 1967 constitutional amendment created the process by which a new vice president can be appointed?

Hint: It’s the same one that lets the VP and Cabinet remove a president from power.

WORLD

🌍️ Rubio swings by old stomping grounds, testifies before Senate

The busiest man in Washington found time in his schedule yesterday to do the one interview everyone in Washington hates doing. On Wednesday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before Congress.

• On top of his minor role as America’s top diplomat, Rubio's also temporarily serving as Trump's national security advisor. And running the National Archives.

• He’s got so many side gigs, it’s become a meme.

Rubio spent nearly three hours taking questions from the youthful, energetic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Here’s quick rundown:

Venezuela: Four weeks after the U.S. captured dictator Nicolás Maduro, his lackeys are still running the place. Rubio admitted that’s not ideal. But he noted that this isn’t a frozen dinner you can pop in the microwave and out comes a nice democracy.

• So what’s the plan if the new leader goes off script? The U.S. is “prepared to use force to ensure cooperation if other methods fail."

• We aren’t at war there, but are dealing with drug gangs “in a war-like setting.”

Greenland: “Technical-level” talks with our Danish buddies are underway and “We’re in a good place right now” on the whole (not very) Greenland debacle. America’s NATO allies in Europe are still ticked. But, in Rubio’s view, “NATO needs to be reimagined” anyway.

• Why? Well, the U.S. has security concerns beyond just Europe.

• And “We may be the richest country in the world, but we don’t have unlimited resources.”

Cuba: The administration would "love to see" regime change in communist Cuba (land of Rubio’s parents). But that desire "doesn't mean we are going to make a change" ourselves.

BRIEFS

● Following three straight cuts, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it'll leave interest rates where they are for now (3.5% to 3.75%). Meanwhile, consumer confidence in the economy just dropped to its lowest level since 2014.

● Bank of America and JPMorgan are joining the list of companies throwing $1,000 in when employees open Trump Accounts for their newborns. The new federally funded investment accounts launch in July and are available for babies from 2025 to 2028.

● Troop movements may suggest a U.S. attack on Iran is imminent. Following Iran’s deadly crackdown on thousands of protestors, President Trump warned of a “massive armada” heading that way and said “time is running out” to negotiate a deal on nukes.

● Chinese President Xi Jinping has reportedly purged the senior ranks of China's military, the People's Liberation Army. Rumors are swirling that a top general leaked secrets to the U.S., while others claim Xi was putting down an attempted coup.

● Democrats are planning their 2028 presidential nominating process, and 12 states are begging to go first. The party will pick one from each of four regions of the country to suck up all the attention and vote in the “early window” before Super Tuesday.

QUOTE

ANSWER

In 1965, two-thirds of Congress voted to send the proposed amendments to the states for ratification. By early 1967, it had been approved of by the required 38 states and became part of the Constitution as the 25th Amendment.

As for the, er, activity Rockefeller was supposedly engaged in at the time of his death, we’ll leave you with a quip from New York magazine: “Nelson thought he was coming, but he was going.”