The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | November 5th, 2025: Hamas Returns Remains Of American-Israeli Soldier & Democratic Socialism Wins Big In NYC

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:  First—an emotional moment in Israel, as the body of American-Israeli soldier Itay Chen is returned under Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal. We’ll break down what this exchange means for the families still waiting, and for the future of the president’s fragile peace plan. Later in the show—Election shockwaves in New York and beyond. On Tuesday, voters deliver a sharp rebuke to Washington’s agenda as a democratic socialist claimed the mayor’s office in America’s largest city. We’ll have the details. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting ⁠PDBPremium.com⁠. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: ⁠youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief⁠ True Classic: Upgrade your wardrobe and save on @trueclassic at ⁠https://trueclassic.com/PDB#trueclassicpod⁠ TriTails Premium Beef: Feed your legacy. Visit ⁠https://trybeef.com/pdb⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world. stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, an emotional moment in Israel. As the body of American Israeli soldier, Etai Ken, is returned, will break down what his exchange means for the family's still waiting and for the future of the fragile peace plan. Later in the show, election results in New York and beyond. On Tuesday in the U.S., progressive voters delivered a sharp rebuke to the GOP as a Democratic Socialist to claim the mayor's office in America's largest city will have the details.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Hamas returned the body of American Israeli soldier Itai Ken last night, marking the latest exchange under the Trump administration's Gaza ceasefire deal. It's a rare moment of closure for his family amid the slow and fragile progress of the agreement. The 19-year-old staff sergeant, who held dual American and Israeli citizenship was serving in a tank unit when Hamas terrorists stormed the Jewish state on the 7th of October back in 2023, of course.

Two years later, after the handover late Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed this morning that Ken's remains were safely in Israeli custody. The Office of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed the news soon after the handover, saying in a statement that, quote, IDF representatives,

informed the family of staff sergeant to each Ty Ken that their loved one has been positively identified and returned to Israel, end quote. Hamas' military wing reports its operatives recovered Ken's body from a neighborhood in Gaza's city's east, that the IDF maintains that he was killed near Kobut's near Oz on the first day of the war, suggesting his body was later taken deep inside Gaza. For Ken's parents, the confirmation ended 760 days of uncertainty. The family said in a statement shared with CNN, quote, Our dear and beloved son,

Eitai, a hero of Israel, was held captive by Hamas. Last night, we received a bit of sweet news of his return home to Israel, end quote. The statement went on to call for the return of the remaining deceased hostages still in Gaza. Ken's return brings a total number of Israeli hostages' bodies recovered

to 21 out of 28. Under the first phase of the 20-point peace plan, each Israeli body returned is matched by 15 Palestinian bodies sent back to the enclave from Israel. Today, doctors at Nasser Hospital in Kan Yunus said they received 15 bodies via the Red Cross, consistent with that agreed-upon ratio. Red Cross now confirms it has transported 285 bodies from Israel to Gaza since the agreement was reached last month, though Jerusalem hasn't disclosed a total number

of Palestinian bodies it still holds. These exchanges essentially form the backbone of the deal, meant to build trust one slow step at a time before larger security and political goals can take shape. Still as we've been tracking, progress has been painfully slow. Israel accuses Hamas of stalling, saying that the terror group at times has returned misidentified or previously recovered partial remains to pass them off as new hostages. At the same time, Hamas continues its long, repeated excuse of blaming it. its delay of returning the hostages on the scale of destruction across Gaza, citing collapsed tunnels, that would be Hamas tunnels, and search sites buried under rubble.

As we've covered here on the PDB, those statements and excuses from the Iranian-backed group have chipped away at what little trust the ceasefire has provided. And that gridlock has stalled the next phase of the ceasefire plan, which is the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip. Hamas' disarmament, which they have yet to discuss, and the creation of a new governing authority under international supervision. In an effort to push the second phase forward, as we mentioned yesterday on the PDB, Washington has drafted a UN Security Council resolution that would authorize a two-year

transitional mandate for Agassas governance. The draft calls for the creation of a board of peace to oversee reconstruction and political transition, alongside an international stabilization force or an ISF made up entirely of Arab and Muslim nations. As our regular listeners know, in that draft, the ISF would work with Israel and Egypt to secure Gaza's borders, quote, ensure the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, protect civilians, and train a restructured Palestinian police force. For Trump, whose Gaza peace plan aims to replace endless war with regional stewardship, Ken's return highlights the promise in fragility.

of the deal. A humanitarian exchange that keeps a ceasefire alive, but reveals just how tenuous phase one remains. All right. Coming up next, the ballots are in, and the verdict is clear. From New York City to New Jersey and Virginia, Democrats picked up wins in, admittedly, traditional Democrat strongholds. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Host of the BDB and, well, as you know, fashion icon. So let me tell you about a great clothing company out there. It's called True Classic. Now, True Classic started with a very simple goal. Make premium, comfortable clothing accessible,

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base. In Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats clinch the governorships in decisive fashion, in states seen as potential Trump-era swing terrain, well, at least seen that way by overly optimistic Republicans. Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former U.S. congressional representative and intelligence officer, will become Virginia's first female governor, while Democratic Representative Mikey Sherrill made history as the first female Democrat elected governor in New Jersey. Both candidates framed their victories as a referendum on President Trump, and had focused their campaigns on economic issues, particularly inflation and affordability, as well as the administration's immigration crackdown, while tying their opponents to Trump's broader agenda and the ongoing government shutdown. Of course, that would be despite the fact that Democrats

themselves have voted to not reopen the government 14 consecutive times on Capitol Hill. But you don't want to let those facts get in the way of a good narrative. But it was the New York city's mayor race that sucked up most of the media oxygen. And when the votes were counted, the result was frankly as expected. So Ron Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist, won a commanding victory in the mayoral race, securing more than one million votes, more than all other candidates combined, such as they were. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as independent, won just 41.6% of the vote, while Republican Curtis Sliwa notched 7%. In reality, Momdani was facing little actual competition.

The war cry for Cuomo was basically, hey, you may not like him, but hold your nose and vote for Cuomo. It's not really the finest of campaign messages. Mumdani's platform centered on major tax hikes for the wealthy in corporations to fund basically far-left policies such as rent freezes and universal child care and government-controlled grocery stores and free buses and whatever else you can ladle on there. While business leaders and investors expressed grave concerns over putting a democratic socialist in charge of the financial capital of the world, well, that makes sense. Voters, especially young progressive voters, they appear ready for a London-style experiment with a far-left agenda. Now, as a British citizen, born in London, and a frequent visitor, I'd suggest that New York City not follow the London model, but perhaps it's too late for that.

The win will see Mamdani serve as the city's first Muslim mayor, and political analysts say his victory reflects not just an urban rejection of the status quo, but a wholesale rebuke of the federal realignments Washington had hoped to carry into America's largest city. Trump, for his part, had reluctantly endorsed Cuomo. Very reluctantly, it was a really a very half-assed endorsement, if you heard it, because, well, frankly, Cuomo was a terrible candidate. And Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds to New York City if Mamdani. one, which he has, so we'll see where that goes, possibly setting up a showdown between Washington and the Big Apple. Mumdani does look ready for a fight, giving a fiery victory speech Tuesday evening

that raised alarms even among Democrat strategists like Van Jones, who described his tone, meaning the mayors, as angry and extreme. Mumdani said, quote, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, I don't know if Mamdani knows what the word despot means. I don't think he's lived in an area where there's an actual despot. It is by dismantling the very conditions he said that allowed him to accumulate power. So Donald Trump, he said, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you. Turn up the volume. End quote. Well, he does work social media very well. Trump responded with an ominous post on true social saying, quote, and so it begins.

There you go. This is going to be fascinating. The president later blamed the electoral losses on the ongoing government shutdown, now the longest in history. Its effects have been particularly pronounced in Virginia, which is home to an outsized share of government employees, feeling the squeeze from the freeze. Trump renewed his call on Wednesday for Republicans to kill the Senate filibuster in order to bypass Democrats and restore federal funding. Now, it's worth pointing out that New York and New Jersey have long been Democratic strongholds, of course. and elections of Virginia are largely dominated by voters in the suburban enclaves adjacent to Washington, D.C. While the results show a dissatisfaction with the state of the

nation in these areas, these Democrat-leaning regions did not break for Trump in 2024 and may not be indicative of the overall national sentiment. Midterm elections are still a year away in eternity in the current U.S. political era, and according to our report from Reuters, national opinion polling shows that Democratic brand remains broadly unpopular. Still, the implications for the Trump administration are potentially stark and may force the Republican Party to recalibrate their policy strategy moving forward. Mamdani's victory also spotlights the rise of democratic socialism, fueled by younger coalitions, unconvinced by both corporate Democrats and the Trump era GOP. And as I've often said, never underestimate the allure of socialism and free stuff when you've got voters who have never lived

in a socialist society. At the very least, Mamdani's victory serves as a radical warning of the ever-widening political divide across America and suggests that Trump's 2024 electoral mandate may not be as broad and strong as enthusiastic MAGA supporters imagined. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon Bulletin for Wednesday the 5th of November. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And if you find yourself with a couple free minutes during the day, please check out and subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's, of course, on YouTube, well, that makes sense, at President's Daily Brief.

I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.