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Here's what we're talking about:
- Democrats risk losing millennial and Gen Z voters over 'cancel culture' and vaccine mandates
- Democrats may blow campaign promises and give the rich a big tax cut
- Internal memo shows how freaked-out progressives plan to beat Republicans in 2022
1. OPPORTUNITY FOR GOP: Millennials and Gen Z pose an existential threat to the Republican Party. But the GOP has found two wedge issues that appear to be gaining traction with young voters. One of these is "cancel culture," which young conservatives rank as a top issue, especially on college campuses.
Here's what the data suggests thus far:
Cancel culture is mostly a nonfactor for most voters: "But among young voters, it looms large," my colleague writes. "According to Pew polling last year, two-thirds of adults under 30 said they'd heard a lot about the issue, compared with just a third of those 50 and older."
- Some Democrats also see the topic as a growing vulnerability: "Cancel culture is very similar to critical race theory," a prominent Democratic pollster told Insider. "When you look at polling on this kind of thing, the public agrees more with Republicans at some base level than Democrats. So it's just a question of how salient it becomes."
Experts say the issue's popularity has risen amid the changing face of America: Vladimir Medenica, a political science professor at the University of Delaware who helps direct a national survey of young voters, said the fear of cancel culture was closely linked to young white men's anxiety about losing economic and social status.
- More details: "White men are the most conservative group among young voters and the most likely to say white people are losing out economically," my colleague writes. "In one poll, more than 40% of young white men said discrimination against white people was as serious as discrimination against racial-minority groups."
2. House censures Paul Gosar for posting violent anime video: Lawmakers voted to censure Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona and remove him from his committee assignments after he posted an anime video that was edited to depict him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were the only Republicans who voted to punish Gosar. Before the vote, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warned Democrats that depriving a Republican of committee assignments established a precedent that the GOP would remember should it retake control of the House. For his part, Gosar compared himself to Alexander Hamilton, adding it was "it was not my purpose to make anyone upset." More on the first censure of a House lawmaker in over a decade.
- How he's responding: Gosar posted a meme of himself on Gettr, the conservative social-media platform. He also retweeted the same video that led to his censure.
3. Internal memo shows how freaked-out progressives plan to beat Republicans in 2022: A progressive training group inspired by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota says the key to beating Republicans next year is getting more skilled organizers on the ground earlier to ensure Democratic message is resonating in communities of color. A strategy memo the nonprofit Re:Power shared exclusively with Insider concludes that unless Democrats do so, they will continue to bleed support from single parents; Black, Latino, and Asian voters; and young people from underrepresented communities. Read more about how progressives are responding to Democrats' gubernatorial loss in Virginia and poor showing in New Jersey.
4. Democrats may blow campaign promises and give the rich a big tax cut: President Joe Biden could get the bulk of his economic agenda passed by New Year's Eve, but some Democrats worry it may contain a measure that contradicts their promises: It could give more tax cuts to the wealthy than for poor Americans. The plan designates $285 billion to raise the cap on the state-and-local-tax deduction to $80,000 from $10,000, reversing part of President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts. It's the single largest program currently within the House's package. But Democrats remain divided over its inclusion, with one senator telling Insider "It doesn't make any sense at all."
5. The debt-ceiling game of chicken is back: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the US could continue to pay its bills only until December 15. With mere weeks to stave off catastrophe, neither party has changed its tune. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he won't offer Democrats the same deal he gave in October. Here's where things stand.
6. Overdose deaths topped 100,000 in one year: "Overdose deaths have been rising for more than two decades, accelerated in the past two years, and, according to new data posted Wednesday, jumped nearly 30% in the latest year," the Associated Press reports. Experts say "the growing prevalence of deadly fentanyl in the illicit drug supply and the pandemic" were drivers of the grim milestone. "Drug overdoses now surpass deaths from car crashes, guns, and even flu and pneumonia."
7. "QAnon Shaman" is sentenced to 41 months in prison: Jacob Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, received one of the longest prison sentences so far stemming from the January 6 insurrection. Chansley pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding rather than risk facing a longer sentence had he gone to trial. In a nearly half-hour address, Chansley invoked Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi as he presented himself to Judge Royce Lamberth as a remorseful, changed man who took responsibility for his conduct during the riot. Here's what happened inside the courtroom during the wild sentencing.
8. Two men convicted of killing Malcolm X are set to be exonerated: The Manhattan district attorney's office said two of the three men convicted of the assassination of the civil-rights leader more than 50 years ago were expected to be formally absolved of the conviction later today, The New York Times reports. The reversal follows a reexamination by the Manhattan DA's office, lawyers from the Innocence Project, and a civil-rights attorney that discovered evidence was previously withheld by the FBI and the New York City Police Department. More on the news.
9. Striking John Deere workers sign a new contract: United Auto Workers members voted 61% to 39% in favor of the agreement with terms to increase pay and boost retirement benefits over six years, ending a five-week strike. More than 10,000 John Deere workers at 14 locations went on strike last month after contract negotiations with the company failed. It was the company's first strike since 1986. More on the new contract.
10. Staples Center is being renamed Crypto.com Arena: The home of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Kings, where Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Phil Jackson hoisted NBA titles together, is set to have a new identity next month. Axios reports that the deal cost more than $700 million. More on one of the largest naming-rights deals ever.
Today's trivia question Today is Mickey Mouse's birthday. Which president celebrated the Disney icon's 50th birthday at the White House? Email your answer and a suggested question to me at [email protected].
- Yesterday's answer: William Howard Taft is the most recent president to have been censured by a chamber of Congress. Taft was "accused of trying to influence a disputed Senate election," the Congressional Research Service writes of the 1912 Senate resolution.