New York Times: “These deals are putting India even more squarely in the Trump Organization’s sights. And with Mr. Trump on his way back to the White House, the country is emerging as center stage for potential conflicts of interest.”

“In Mr. Trump’s first term, it was uncharted territory for a sitting U.S. president to have extensive business interests in foreign countries. During his second term, the Trump Organization aims to issue a more limited ethics plan that is unlikely to significantly curb its growth.”

“The Cabinet confirmation drama around Donald Trump’s most provocative picks isn’t only about Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard or Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” CNN reports.

“It’s mostly about Trump himself, and the kind of presidency he wants, the one he will end up getting, and the hopes of his MAGA movement that he’ll stand firm on his vow to shake the federal administrative state to its core and enact his and their revenge.”

“The stakes were laid bare in recent days by a fierce pressure campaign on social and conservative media targeting Sen. Joni Ernst over her reservations about Trump’s Pentagon pick, Hegseth.”

“Donald Trump has announced two of the highest-profile ambassador jobs — but many of the most significant ones are still to come,” Politico reports.

“While several foreign posts are important in any administration because the country is a close U.S. ally or a neighbor to an adversary, some ambassadorial jobs will take on heightened significance in Trump’s second term because of the incoming president’s existing relationship with — or comments about — the country.”

Peter Baker: “Mr. Trump has made some of the most expansive, some would say outlandish, campaign promises that any president has ever made, promises that policymakers across the spectrum take seriously in their intent but not in their specifics. While he may make substantial progress on his priorities, few other than committed Trump allies think he will be able to meet his maximalist goals on immigration, federal spending and foreign policy.”

“He has vowed to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours and to do so before his inauguration next month, without giving any indication of how. He has said he would deport all 11 million people living in the country illegally, which would be about 12 times the number of people he deported in his first term. He has assigned his multibillionaire patron Elon Musk to cut $2 trillion a year out of the $6.8 trillion federal budget, though past budget cutters struggled to trim a fraction of that.”