Loading summary
Transcript10 lines
- [00:00]
VRBO Announcer
VRBO Last minute deals make chasing fresh mountain powder incredibly easy. With thousands of homes close to the slopes, you can easily get epic pow freshies, first tracks and more. No need for months of planning. In fact, you can't even plan. Pow Pow is on its own schedule. Thankfully somewhere in the world it's always snowing. All you have to do is use the last minute filter on the app to book a last minute deal on a slope side private rental home. Book now@vervo.com.
- [00:32]
Hannah Jewell
Billionaires are spending unprecedented amounts on U.S. politics. That's where we're starting the Seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Friday, November 21st. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. In the past decade, billionaires have been more empowered than ever before to spend money to influence American elections. A Post analysis crunched the numbers. Between 2015 and 2024, 20 donors have spent nearly $5 billion on state ballot measures, congressional elections, presidential races, and more. Roughly one in every $13 spent in last year's national elections was donated by a handful of the country's richest people. The top donor in our analysis is Miriam Adelson. Along with her late husband, Sheldon, the Republican couple gave about $658 million to influence elections in that time period. Michael Bloomberg, a Democrat, gave $573 million. Elon Musk gave $294 million in 2024 alone. While billionaires have donated to both parties, more than 80% of giving by the hundred wealthiest Americans last year went to Republicans or conservative groups. Most Americans aren't happy about this trend. A new Washington Post Ipsos poll found that only 12% of the public says billionaires have a positive impact on society 58% say billionaires spending more money on elections is a bad thing. You can dive deeper into this story and see the top 20 billionaires influencing American politics in our newsletter. 5 Find that in the show notes for today's episode. President Donald Trump accused six Democrats of treason punishable by death. That's number two. Earlier this week, a group of Democratic lawmakers released a video urging members of the military to disobey orders they deem illegal.
- [02:47]
Democratic Lawmakers
Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.
- [02:51]
Hannah Jewell
You can refuse illegal orders.
- [02:53]
Democratic Lawmakers
You must refuse illegal orders.
- [02:56]
Hannah Jewell
One has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution. That was Senator Alyssa Slotkin, Senator Mark Kelly, Representative Chris d', Aluzio, and Representative Chrissy Houlahan. It was not immediately clear which specific orders the lawmakers were talking about, but some representatives have said they are hearing from service members questioning the legality of recent strikes in the Caribbean. The Trump administration alleges it has been targeting narcotics traffickers, but it hasn't provided evidence. The video from Democrats appeared to rattle Trump. In a pair of posts on Truth Social, he accused the lawmakers in all caps of seditious behavior at the highest level, and he said that was punishable by death. Trump's words elicited a swift rebuke from Democrats. In a joint statement, members of House Democratic leadership condemned what they called the president's disgusting and dangerous death threat against members of Congress. Three. The U.S. coast Guard reversed plans for new guidelines on swastikas Yesterday, the Post reported that the Coast Guard would no longer classify the swastika as a hate symbol. Instead, it would have classified the Nazi era symbol as potentially divisive. That policy was slated to take effect next month, but following the Post's report, the Coast Guard appeared to have a change of heart. Last night, officials issued a new, more stringent policy on hate symbols, including the swastika. In a statement, the Coast Guard said it does not tolerate the display of divisive or hate symbols and flags. Trump officials unveiled a plan to drill for oil and gas off the coast of California. That's number four. The Trump administration's draft maps call for six California offshore lease sales between 2027 and 2030. It says the plan would help cement American energy dominance. But California leaders warn that new offshore drilling would threaten fishing, tourism and sensitive ecosystems. Critics have pointed out that there are many areas already available for drilling that haven't been used, and that the country doesn't need the additional supply. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who's eyeing a run for president in 2028, declared the plan dead on arrival. The last federal oil lease sale in the Pacific was in 1984. Number five. You'll never guess who Elon Musk's chatbot thinks is history's greatest human okay, maybe you will guess. It's Elon Musk. The tech billionaire touts his AI chatbot Grok as truth seeking, but users on X yesterday shared examples of the arguably untruthful ways it describes its owner. Musk, according to Grok, is strikingly handsome with a genius level intellect and a lean, athletic physique fitter than LeBron James. In fact, after some ridicule and criticism, Musk addressed the lean, athletic elephant in the room yesterday. He said Grok had been manipulated by adversarial prompting into praising him this way. Later in the day, there was some evidence the chatbot had toned down its extreme praise. But the incident revived concerns from AI experts that grok, a version of which has won US Government contracts that may be programmed to portray its owner and his personal views in a favorable light. Six. The government wants to bring civility back to flying, starting with your clothes if you have been to an airport lately, you may have been less than impressed by the behavior of your fellow travelers. The Department of Transportation, for one, seems to think people need a reminder of how to act. And perhaps they're right. The number of cases involving disruptive passengers remains higher than 2019 levels. So the agency released a new video this week. It begins with a nostalgic look back at the golden age of airline travel, when people wore suits and lovely little hats to fly.
- [07:31]
Democratic Lawmakers
We respected the dignity of air travel and the men and women who made the dream possible. Flying was a bastion of civility.
- [07:43]
Hannah Jewell
It goes on to contrast that civility with clips of barefoot modern travelers getting into fistfights at the airport. Then comes Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, imploring flyers to show a little more dignity.
- [07:56]
Sean Duffy
Let'S bring civility and manners back. Ask yourself Are you helping a pregnant woman put her bag in the overhead bin? Are you dressing with respect? Are you keeping control of your children?
- [08:08]
Hannah Jewell
So that's something to consider the next time you want to yell at somebody on a plane. And at number seven, a Frida Kahlo painting shattered a record at auction yesterday. A self portrait by the Mexican artist and cultural icon sold for nearly $55 million at Sotheby's in London. That's a new record for a female artist, according to the auction house. The bidding took place between two collectors over a gripping five minutes. The painting is titled El Sueno la Cama. Kahlo painted it in 1940, a turbulent year for the artist. It depicts Kahlo sleeping in her four poster bed as a vine twists around her. On top of the bed is a skeleton wrapped in dynamite. Sotheby's catalog says it offers a spectral meditation on the porous boundary between sleep and death. If you'd like to take a look at it and meditate on that porous boundary, head over to Today's newsletter. That's the show for this week. Thanks to everyone who did our Spotify poll the other day about what kind of stories you most like hearing about on the show. World News came out on top. Thanks for the feedback. The associate producer of the seven is Taylor White. The staff writers are Jamie Ross, Izzan Acabow and me. Special thanks to Renny Svenovsky. John Taylor is our editor. Additional editing by Christina Quinn. Copyediting by Melissa Ngo and Thomas Haleba. Mixing and sound design is by Jim Briggs and Justin Gerrish. Our theme music is by Edith Mutch. I'm Hannah Jewell. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. I'll meet you back here on.