The political winners and losers of 2023

BY NIALL STANAGE

© Illustration / Courtney Jones; and Greg Nash

Political winners were hard to come by in 2023.

At home, congressional dysfunction and toxic partisanship dominated. Overseas, in Ukraine and the Middle East, grave conflicts posed big challenges to the United States.

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'The year that defied all odds': How Wall Street powered through recession fears

BY TAYLOR GIORNO

The stock market closed to books on a winning year on Friday despite earlier recession fears.

“2023 may go down in history as the year that defied all odds,” Kelly Milligan, co-founder of Quorum Private Wealth, told The Hill.

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Houthi squeeze on Red Sea shipping risks enormous cost to global economy 

BY BRAD DRESS

The Houthi rebel group in Yemen has almost completely shut down a key shipping route in the Red Sea, costing the global economy and setting up a huge challenge for the White House. 

The relentless Houthi attacks on merchant vessels and commercial boats pushed several of the world’s largest shipping companies to cancel transits through the Red Sea. Oil-producing giant BP also decided to avoid the shipping lane.

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Student debt fight ends year on disappointing note

BY LEXI LONAS

Student loan borrowers began 2023 with money and hope. The year will end with resumed monthly payments and only limited debt relief.

At the start of the year, student loans remained in their pandemic pause, as President Biden’s debt relief plan headed to the Supreme Court. But the administration decided that once the Supreme Court ruled on the legality of his loan forgiveness plan — regardless of the outcome — borrowers should have to restart their payments.  

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Republicans hit Biden over St. Croix trip during border crisis

BY ALEX GANGITANO

Republicans are hitting President Biden for a family vacation in St. Croix amid a crisis at the border, arguing it shows how the White House has been absent on the issue.

The president is taking the annual trip to the Virgin Islands over the New Year’s holiday, which comes this year as a migrant caravan gains attention while heading to the United States and border crossings are increasing.

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Special counsel Jack Smith rebuffs Trump’s immunity claim in new filing

BY TARA SUTER

Special Counsel for the Department of Justice Jack Smith rebuffed former President Trump’s claim that he should get immunity in Smith’s case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election in a Saturday filing.

The former president’s legal team has said that Trump should be immune from prosecution in the case because the conduct noted in the indictment happened while he was in office. That argument was previously rejected by Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge originally overseeing the case.

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Haley appears to mix up CNN anchor and Iowa women’s basketball star

BY TARA SUTER

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley appeared to mix up a CNN anchor and a college women’s basketball star in a clip posted Saturday.

According to The Des Moines Register, Haley was speaking to a crowd in Coralville, Iowa, before the University of Iowa women’s basketball game Saturday when the incident occurred. 

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Trump hits Ohio governor over veto on proposed gender-affirming health care ban

BY TARA SUTER

Former President Trump went after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) for vetoing a proposed ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors on Saturday.

“DeWine has fallen to the Radical Left,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “No wonder he gets loudly booed in Ohio every time I introduce him at Rallies, but I won’t be introducing him any more. I’m finished with this ‘stiff.’ What was he thinking. The bill would have stopped child mutilation, and prevented men from playing in women’s sports. Legislature will hopefully overturn. Do it FAST!!!”

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Maine secretary of state latest victim of swatting spree 

BY SARAH POLUS

The home of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows was swatted on Friday, making her the latest victim in a string of such incidents.

Bellows said she’s become the victim of a series of threats in the wake of her decision to remove former President Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment on Friday.

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America’s obligation to Ukraine began with nukes in the early 1990s

BY BOHDAN VITVITSKY

OPINION | Does the U.S. have an obligation to aid Ukraine? The short answer to this question, one that many have been evading, is yes. The reasons have to do with America’s choices, policies and actions during the early 1990s.

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Joe Biden and the politics of appeasement 

BY STUART GOTTLIEB

OPINION | Since Joe Biden became president, the United States has suffered one foreign policy set-back after another, from the humiliating U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, to the Chinese spy balloon drama in January 2023. Add to these the administration’s failed attempts to curry favor with Iran — which Tehran returned by helping initiate the current explosion of violence across the Mideast — and it seems no corner of the world has been spared.

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