Saturday, November 7, 2026 · Morning Edition

Today

By StaffNews Desk

Good morning. After the Republican Party's midterm defeat, Trump installed Stephen Miller — the adviser who led the administration's immigration crackdown — as White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. Democratic lawmakers called Miller a “hatemonger”, a “xenophobe” and “vile.” The man who built the deportation machine now runs the West Wing, while Attorney General Todd Blanche faces accusations of turning the Justice Department into Miller's personal law firm. The promotion is read even by critics as dragging the GOP deeper into the electoral abyss.

The shake-up follows a rout at the polls. Turnout hit its second-highest peak in more than a century, driving surprise Democratic wins. Capital did not sit it out: nearly $12 billion went to political ads. The administration's bid to throw out roughly 20,000 California ballots it alleged went to noncitizens collapsed after the courts rejected it. Yet the result most likely to spread is reactionary — Florida homeowners voted themselves a property tax break that could inspire copycats and starve the public services tenants and workers depend on.

Abroad, Trump said the U.S. carried out what he called “minor strikes” on Iran, after Iranian media reported two missiles hit Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz — escalation dressed up as minimization.

The resistance is local and material. In Texas, after a Democratic sweep of the state, a mayor ordered police to limit cooperation with ICE, informing the agency only about people arrested for jailable offences. In Maryland, a woman evicted after a pay cut became a community leader and helped block a $5 billion data center. Behind it all, the World Socialist Web Site maps the terrain: the world is on course for roughly $375 trillion in total debt by year's end, dwarfing the profit the system extracts.