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Donald Trump made another controversial pick for his incoming government. That's where we're starting the seven. From the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, November 14th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. President elect Trump named Matt Gaetz as his attorney general. Gates is an outspoken Trump ally and a fierce critic of the Justice Department. Until yesterday, he was a Republican congressman from Florida. And now he could become the first US Attorney general in four decades who has never worked as a government attorney or judge. Gates has been under investigation by the House over allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use and for accepting improper gifts. Yesterday, he resigned from Congress ahead of the expected release of a report into these allegations. But the House Ethics Committee could still release that report, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Gates's selection stunned people even within Trump's inner circle, and it drew some skepticism from Republicans in the Senate. That means he could have a hard time getting confirmed. John Bolton is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He's served in every Republican White House, including Trump's, since Ronald Reagan was president. He expressed his concerns about the nomination yesterday on NBC's Meet the Press. Now.
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Well, it must be the worst nomination for a Cabinet position in American history. I think this is something that falls well outside the scope of deference that should be given to a president in nominating members of his senior team. Gates is not only totally incompetent for this job, he doesn't have the character. He is a person of moral turpitude. And notwithstanding how difficult it may be politically, this is a nomination the Republican Party should oppose.
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Number two. Republicans officially won control of the House yesterday. Republican Representative Juan Siskamani defeated Democrat Kirsten Engel in the race for Arizona's 6 6th congressional district. That pushed Republicans to 218 seats, enough to secure a majority in the chamber. With the presidency, Senate and House in hand, the Republican Party now has a powerful governing trifecta. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are close allies. They've promised an overhaul of the federal government and profound changes to domestic and foreign policy. Johnson said House Republicans have a mandate to quickly implement Trump's policies that includes scaling back environmental regulations and ending what he called wokeness and radical gender ideology. Meanwhile, in the Senate yesterday, Republicans chose John Thune to replace Mitch McConnell as majority leader. They resisted pressure from some Trump allies to select Florida lawmaker Rick Scott. Inst. Number three. Trump and President Joe Biden met face to face at the White House. Yesterday's meeting marked an extraordinary moment for two men who have repeatedly and publicly expressed disdain for each other. It was slightly awkward as Biden and Trump sat together before a roaring fire in the Oval Office, but Biden congratulated Trump on his victory and said he would accommodate his return to office. Here's what Trump said.
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Thank you very much. And politics is tough and it's in many cases not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today and I appreciate it very much. A transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Jim. You're welcome.
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For Biden, this meeting entailed welcoming and legitimizing a man he has condemned as a threat to American democracy. Foreign Number four is a Post exclusive. Israel is preparing a ceasefire plan for Lebanon as a gift to Trump. Israeli officials told the Post that Israel is rushing to advance a ceasefire deal in Lebanon. Israel invaded southern Lebanon last month. Trump is an ally to Israel's far right government and his victory has emboldened Israeli hardliners, so their hope is to deliver Trump an early foreign policy win. Trump has said he wants an end to the wars in the Middle east, but he also told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call last month to do what you have to do in the region. It's not clear what impact, if any, a Lebanon deal would have on Gaza. Ceasefire and hostage release talks on that front have stalled. A new hurricane is likely to form soon in the Caribbean and it could be headed for the US Next week. That's our fifth story. It's too early to know where this late season storm could go, but Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico and Florida could all be in its path and it could rapidly intensify into a major hurricane this weekend. Whatever system develops, it's expected to make its closest pass to the United States, so sometime between November 19th and 22nd. Once it forms, the storm will be named Sarah and it would be the 19th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. 6. A new study found that loneliness can increase your risk for dementia Loneliness is a common human experience. Fleeting feelings of social isolation may not have a negative effect on our health, but persistent chronic loneliness is associated with damaging health conditions. A new meta analysis looked at data from over 600,000 people. It found that loneliness increases the risk for dementia from any cause, including Alzheimer's disease. The estimates indicated that feeling lonely increased risk for all cause dementia by 31%. We don't know exactly why this could be the case. One theory though, is that feeling lonely leads to reduced social participation, meaning less opportunity for cognitive stimulation. Another possibility is that loneliness is a symptom of dementia that appears decades before a diagnosis. More study is required, but what we know for sure is that spending time with friends and family is good for you. So go pay them a visit this weekend. And at number seven A scientist experimented on her own cancer and it worked in the summer of 2020, Croatian virologist Beata Hallise learned that her breast cancer had returned. She knew that researchers around the world were testing virus based cancer treatments. The idea was that these treatments could potentially avoid the destructive side effects of chemotherapy. So she decided to test some of them on herself. Halisey injected herself with viruses she had cultivated in a lab and over several weeks her homegrown remedy caused her tumor to shrink, enabling surgeons to remove it. She and her co authors published a study documenting her experiment in August. They wrote that the unconventional treatment has left her in remission for almost four years. But experts are divided on the ethics of her self experimentation. Some say it's impossible to be objective when you are the single subject of your own study. Others worry it could encourage patients who don't happen to be expert virologists to self experiment in more dangerous ways. But Hallise argues her findings should encourage clinical trials to study treating cancer with viruses in a more orthodox way. Alright, you're all caught up. For your next listen, go check out the Post's podcast the Campaign Moment from my colleague Aaron Blake. The latest episode dives deeper into all the sweeping policy promises that Trump has made for his second term, and into polling that questions whether most Americans will actually like those policies. Search for the Campaign Moment wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.
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If you eat too many ultra processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try this from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try Dig in with Me on practical advice for life's common challenges follow. Try this right now, wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it.