From Distillers To Farmers, Trade War Would Cause Casualties

Trump Media, the company whose largest shareholder is President-elect Donald Trump, is in “advanced talks” to buy a crypto trading platform, CNBC reports. Financial Times: “A successful deal would deepen Trump’s move into the cryptocurrency market after he began promoting a new crypto venture set up by longtime business partners, World Liberty Financial, from which he stands to earn significant fees.

Hedge-fund titan Ken Griffin said he’s anxious about Donald Trump’s potential tariff policies, but that the U. S. economy is going back to “the business of business” now that he’s returning to the White House, Bloomberg reports. Earlier this year, Griffin called Trump’s tariff policies “regretful,” but said he thought a Trump administration would be good for markets.

“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled at a private event Sunday night that he opposes President-elect Donald Trump’s demand for recess appointments,” Punchbowl News reports. “Of course, McConnell won’t be in charge of the Senate next year, so his pronouncement here doesn’t have as much weight as, say, if incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune were to say something similar.

“Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor and Baltimore mayor who for the last year has served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration, on Monday became the first announced candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee,” the New York Times reports. “The entrance of Mr. O’Malley, 61, kicks off a race that is expected to have several candidates running to lead a party in turmoil after this year’s elections.”

“The White House is expected to request over $98 billion in disaster relief funds from Congress on Monday,” Axios reports. “The emergency request from the White House comes as Congress must address a government funding lapse at the end of the year.”

“Just a week after winning several of the nation’s largest Arab-majority cities, President-elect Donald Trump has filled top administration posts with staunch Israel supporters, including an ambassador to Israel who has claimed ‘there is no such thing as Palestinians,'” the AP reports. “Meanwhile, the two Trump advisers who led his outreach to Arab Americans have not secured positions in the administration yet.” “The selections have prompted mixed reactions among Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan, which went for Trump along with all six other battleground states.”