Hello, America. It’s Erick Erickson. These are “The Four Things You Need to Know” this afternoon.
I spent the last part of my show on this one, but we need to reiterate it as the top story right now. Stephen Miller is going to be the new White House chief of staff. Susie Wiles will move, according to the president in a social media post, to the Trump political operation. She will probably be helping with the library and fundraising there. That’s speculation on my part, but she is a good fundraiser for the president and very loyal to him. Stephen Miller will take over as chief of staff.
Members of Congress have been texting me, upset about this. They’re not big fans of Stephen Miller, and a lot of members of Congress who are on their way out the door blame their losses on Stephen Miller. The leadership in Congress also blames the losses on Stephen Miller, in large part because he handled the deportation process. Nobody objects to deportations, but the process was alienating to a lot of Americans, and Miller was the guy pushing that process. So people are very upset on Capitol Hill about this. Of course, in the White House, he’s beloved. The president absolutely adores the guy.
Miller’s wife, interestingly enough, said on CBS News that she didn’t vote on Tuesday, after telling Americans it would essentially be the end of the world if they didn’t vote. She didn’t vote. Here’s the end of the world, I guess, with Stephen Miller now on top inside the White House, at least for now.
Markets have not fully recovered, but they’re doing better today. Kevin Hassett at the White House came out and said the blue wave will not stop the data center buildout. Now, interestingly enough, the incoming governor of Texas, Hinojosa, said that she will continue to allow data center projects to be built. However, they’re going to have to use union labor, now imported from California, since Texas is a right-to-work state. So if you want your data center built, you’re going to have to import labor from California. That’s where the largest segment of unionized construction workers for data centers is. So the Texas Democrats are already putting that in place to keep Texas permanently blue, essentially giving the Democrats a lock on the Electoral College. Should that happen? Something to think about there. Elections do have consequences.
Kevin Hassett says they’re going to keep building in Alabama. Governor-elect Tuberville says the Alabama legislature is full steam ahead on data centers, and the people of Alabama actually voted for this on Tuesday night. Alabama is apparently the last state in the nation that supports data center development. They’re going to be loaded, economically well off as a state. Given the economics of data centers, Alabama is going to be a thriving state soon that Democrats despise and won’t move to, so it’ll be a big, bright red beacon of hope for America.
Hiring surpassed expectations, with the U.S. economy adding 165,000 jobs in October, more than 100,000 more than expected. They were expecting something like 45,000 jobs in October, and it was 165,000. Unemployment is down to 4.1%. That is encouraging the markets. It continues to give mixed economic data to the Federal Reserve, but the consensus now is that, given that inflation is still too high, and not just because of gas prices, and because the economy appears to be working at the macro level for hiring, interest rates are absolutely going to go up next month. That seems to be the consensus. Most people were expecting it to happen anyway.
Lastly, Democrats in Congress are already saying, “Elon Musk, there’s a target on your back.” He spent so much money to come after Democrats, and he lost. As they say, if you’re going to kill the king, kill the king, and he just pissed them off. The Democrats are going to be dragging him to Congress. A lot of it will be performative, of course, to get their pound of flesh. But I will tell you this: Democrats have been outraged at the President of the United States pursuing political vendettas against James Comey, Letitia James, and others. If they start doing it as well, this is another sign that neither party is going to be willing to change anything, and that’s going to be a problem for everybody.
I’m Erick Erickson. These are “The Four Things You Need to Know” this afternoon. Have a great rest of the day.
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I Can Say Something Now
I try to be very transparent with all of you, but am still an employee of a company and have to do as I’m told on occasion. For the last year, I have been unable to say anything, including to defend myself, about the First Liberty Building & Loan matter. Now that the criminal sentencing has been done, I get to talk to you about it. Many of you have been met by silence when you have asked about it because I just have not been allowed to talk.
When I started in syndicated talk, First Liberty was an early advertiser. My ads, if you ever heard them, were for businesses looking for business loans for appreciable assets. They lent to businesses building buildings or buying franchises, etc. I had to note in each ad it was for businesses, not individuals.
A couple of years ago, Mr Frost asked if I would endorse a new business of theirs that did individual investing. I declined. He and his son asked if they could come on my radio show to talk about First Liberty. I again declined. They then offered me commissions for referrals. I again declined. When they started using my name in ads, I had to personally call Mr. Frost and tell him they had to change the ads because I have a conflict of interest in that I only do personal investing ads for my personal financial advisor. Likewise, I cannot take commissions because of rules related to being on broadcast radio.
As many of you now know, the individual investment program turned out to be a Ponzi scheme. A lot of people, including friends of mine, have been devastated. Over the last year, people who view me as an enemy have tried to tie me to the program, claim I was complicit, etc. I was unable to say anything or even offer so much as a condolence to those harmed.
In this business, one’s reputation is all they really have at the end of the day. Mr. Frost is now in prison for fifteen years, which amounts to the rest of his life at his age. I have to work on regaining trust from some just for advertising what was, as I understand it, a legitimate business, but tied directly to Mr. Frost and his schemes.
I’m sorry I could not say anything until now with the resolution of the criminal matter. Additionally, moving forward, I refuse to do ads for sports betting and predictions markets and now refuse to advertise for individual investment advisor programs except my personal financial advisor. I’d rather take the financial hit than potentially harm any of my audience or myself.
