The Midterms Are Here & The Man Who Walked Around The World

Hi readers, happy Tuesday! Today we’re covering the leadup to the midterms, more U.S.-Iran talks, the Binance hack, a Democratic betrayal, the Florida jet crash, and the man who walked around the world. Also, Thursday’s email will be an abbreviated edition.

“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.” ― Plato

The Midterm Moment

The long-awaited midterm elections are here! If you’re reading this on Tuesday morning, consider it a reminder to vote if you haven’t already sent in a ballot.

Heading into the day of (political) reckoning, Trump’s approval ratings are still hovering near their all-time low, with just 32% of Americans approving of how the president has handled his time in office. The Republican party’s popularity is understandably tied to Trump, which is not a good sign for the GOP – when asked which party they’d prefer to control Congress, 46% of voters chose the Democrats, while 38% picked Republicans.

According to the polls (if you still trust those), Democrats are likely to regain control of the House, and have a decent shot at controlling the Senate. In order to control the higher house of Congress, they’ll have to keep control of Democrat-held seats that are facing serious Republican contests (Georgia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Michigan) while also winning four seats that are currently being held by the GOP. The best targets would be Maine and North Carolina, while Alaska, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, and Kansas are also winnable for the Dems. If they manage to flip both houses of Congress, Democrats will likely try their best to block Trump’s agenda while also launching investigations into administration officials and the big man himself.

While we wait for the ballots to be counted, here’s a fun fact for you: political spending on these midterms has shattered previous records, with campaign finance group Open Secrets projecting that political expenditures will top $12 billion by the end of today. That’s thanks to Super PACs, which are political groups that can gather and spend unlimited amounts of money in support of a given candidate – the catch is that they’re not directly involved in that candidate’s campaign, and generally only spend the money on ad campaigns supporting them. According to the latest Federal Election Commission data, $9.5 billion was spent on elections nationwide in mid-October, with $5.5 billion of that coming from Super PACs. Individually, the biggest donors are Elon Musk (who’s spent upwards of $500 million supporting Republican candidates) and billionaire financier George Soros (who gave over $100 million to liberal candidates). Prepare for more billionaires funding their pet candidates in the 2028 elections!

Talking Past Each Other Once Again

• Since last Sunday, diplomats from the U.S. and Iran have been negotiating an end to their war. On Monday – eight days after those negotiations began – the talks wrapped with no peace deal in place. Despite that lack of progress, the two sides are still in contact, and their discussions have brought them closer together on some points of contention.

• “The basis ⁠of dialogue and talks between Iran and the US via mediators is still Iran’s seven-step proposal, which is now condensed, making it possible to implement it within two days,” said a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry in the wake of the Qatari-mediated talks. That seven-step proposal involves an end to the U.S.’s blockade of Iranian ports, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. waiver allowing Iranian oil sales, the end of new sanctions on Iran, and a new series of talks on other issues including Iran’s nuclear program. It’s not clear where exactly the conflict will go now – oil prices dropped 4% on Monday as investors showed some optimism that the conflict might end, though there are some indications that the U.S. might scale up its military operations after today’s midterms.

Binance Bleeds Billions

• Last Thursday, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange was hacked. Binance, the platform in question, lost $6.3 billion worth of crypto assets to TraderTraitor, a North Korean cybercrime group (according to the FBI). Interestingly, TraderTraitor was also responsible for stealing $1.5 billion worth of crypto in March 2025, which was the biggest crypto-heist on record when it took place – the group broke its own record with the Binance hack.

• Binance paused its operations in the wake of last week’s hack in order to secure its funds, but reopened for business on Sunday. Since then, the platform has reported that users withdrew over $3.6 billion in assets, equivalent to roughly 2% of the $171 billion in assets it has under management. According to one firm that’s helping track the stolen crypto, the funds are being laundered “across many thousands of addresses, across thousands of deposits.” The FBI has listed multiple cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to TraderTraitor, and authorities are working with industry experts to retrieve the stolen assets.

Additional World News

• US strikes Iranian island ahead of midterm elections (BBC)

• Brazil selloff extends dismal run for Latin American markets (Semafor)

• Israeli officials say elections will stand after Netanyahu claimed Arabs stole vote (AP)

• Saudi Aramco Profit Jumps Despite Damaging Attacks on Pipelines and Refineries (NYT, $)

• Africa’s ‘unprecedented’ Ebola outbreak could reach UK, says top health official (Guardian)

• Russian bombing kills 26 in village in southeastern Ukraine, emergency services say (Reuters)

Call Them The Drama-Crats

• Michigan’s Senate race has brought us the political betrayal of the year. On Sunday, Democrat Haley Stevens shocked politicians across the country by endorsing Republican candidate Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a left-wing candidate who narrowly defeated Stevens in the Democratic primary. 

• While Stevens and El-Sayed have butted heads for months, the straw that broke the camel’s back was a pro-El-Sayed ad aired by an outside group. The ad blamed rising grocery costs on America’s material support for Israel, which Stevens (a self-described Zionist who’s received over $30 million in AIPAC funding) took issue with. She said she would only appear at an El-Sayed campaign event if her Democratic rival disavowed the ad – he responded by disinviting her from the event.

• When asked about her decision to endorse a Republican candidate, Stevens (a seasoned politician who’s held her seat since 2019) said, “I’m just casting my one vote this way,” adding, “I am not trying to upset anyone.” Unfortunately for her, she did upset some people. Specifically, her Democratic colleagues. On Monday, the chair of the Michigan Democratic party said that Stevens was not a member of the party “nor will she be in the future,” while Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer described her move as “a despicable betrayal.” Hopefully she has a job lined up with the GOP.

A Freak Crash In Florida

• On Sunday afternoon, a plane crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, leaving a sizable crater in the ground of a residential neighborhood. The plane, a privately-owned Learjet 60, reportedly had nine passengers aboard when it crashed, including a family of four and their nanny. The plane’s pilot was an experienced aviator with years of experience under his belt, while the co-pilot (who was handling communications and not in control of the plane) was a 20-year-old who’d received her pilot’s license at 17.

• According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane was traveling at an altitude of 35,000 feet ahead of the crash. At that time, the co-pilot was in contact with air traffic control, and reported that the plane was experiencing “light, clear ice that is manageable, and moderate turbulence.” Soon after, though, the co-pilot made a Mayday emergency call, reporting that the plane was plummeting at a speed of 20,000 feet per minute – the plane hit the ground soon after that, sending up a massive fireball and injuring one person on the street nearby. Officials are investigating exactly what led to the crash, but they’ve stated that the ice buildup and weather are “certainly a factor.”

Additional USA News

• CISA Retreats From Election Security Ahead of Midterms (NYT, $)

• Maybe Donald Trump Doesn’t Want His Party to Win the Midterms (Atlantic, $)

• New restrictions at Texas Tech are changing what professors can teach (NPR)

• Judge tosses Trump administration’s admissions records lawsuit against Harvard (Politico)

• Judge blocks Trump administration from pressuring states over noncitizen voting (Reuters)

• Tennessee national guard trained guns on dying man after guard member shot him, video shows (Guardian) 

Around The World In 28 Years

• On Monday, a man from England completed his 28-year quest to walk around the world. Karl Bushby’s journey began on November 1, 1998 when he left home as a 29-year-old, catching a flight to Punta Arenas, Chile. Since then, he’s walked over 31,000 miles, crossed four continents, and 30 countries. He returned home to Hull, England, as a 57-year-old, where he was met with a hug from his mom.

• All of his journey was made on foot – after making his way from the southern tip of the Americas all the way to Alaska, Bushby crossed into Asia during a short window when the Bering Strait was frozen solid. He then walked across Russia to Europe, and swam across the English channel to make it to his home country without the help of a boat. Initially, he’d expected the journey to take “just” 12 years, but bureaucratic red tape related to his many border crossings stretched that into 28.

• “They say it takes a village, but literally it took a world to get me here,” Bushby told reporters upon his return. “The kindness of strangers, so many, from individuals to nation-states to get me back here today. I didn’t do this alone. There was a big team. The biggest team. Earth.” 

Additional Reads

• Scientists detect signals at the smallest scale ever explored (BBC)

• How psychology’s classic studies misled us about the self (Psyche)

• How IShowSpeed Became the Most Influential Streamer in the World (NYT, $)

• Shop fridges and freezers across Europe hit by fresh suspected cyber-attack (Guardian)

• Can’t commit to vegetarianism but want animals to suffer less? You’ve got options. (Vox)

• This woman defied lethal cancer. Can mRNA vaccines make that possible for others? (NPR)

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Peanut For Your Thoughts

I’m surprised more billionaires aren’t throwing their money at elections, to be honest. Or maybe they’re just being sneakier about it.

Editor + Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

Designer: Joe Stella