President-elect Donald Trump plans to hold a “victory rally” at the Capital One Arena in Washington on Jan. 19, the day before he is sworn in, the Washington Post reports.

“On Wednesday morning, hours after a man drove a pickup truck into New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans, killing 10 people, President-elect Donald Trump suggested on social media that his condemnations of undocumented immigrants had been validated,” the New York Times reports.

Said Trump: “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before.“

“Donald Trump has appointed Justin Caporale, the man credited with some of his most eye-catching campaign gambits on the path to his second presidential election victory, to a White House role, signalling that high-profile publicity stunts are likely to be a key feature of his second presidential term,” The Guardian reports.

“Look, it’s never easy criticizing the president and the standard bearer of your party, and there’s always that kind of political honeymoon period that happens when you first get elected. But there are already signs of folks that are willing to push back and criticize and say no when they feel like they have to say no. And that should give the American people a big sigh of relief that it’s not the evil dictatorship that the liberal media was telling us it was going to be.”

— New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), quoted by Politico.

Playbook: “How serious is Trump about using state power to go after his political enemies? Unchastened by total control in Washington, what guardrails will constrain him? Will he use the early days of his administration to set the new tone, and what will that tone be? What norms will he bulldoze through? And how will a lame duck Trump administration look different, unconstrained by the need to win reelection?”

“Then there are the practical questions about the new administration. What does opposition to Trump actually look like this time around? Who are the leaders of that movement and how do you balance trying to be the grown ups in the room with being the opposition at the same time? Historically, there’s nothing that brings Democrats together like opposing Trump, which at this point is their best hope of some kind of unity.”

“President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to attend former President Jimmy Carter’s state funeral in Washington next week, ending speculation about his presence at the memorial for a predecessor whom he had often criticized,” the New York Times reports.

“In wide-ranging remarks to reporters as he entered a flashy New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago, his private Florida estate and club, Mr. Trump also predicted that House Speaker Mike Johnson would retain his post and reiterated his support for visas for high-skilled immigrants, doubling down in a fight that has divided his supporters.”

“I think escalation’s good. When we get down to it, remember they’re the ones backpedaling and, like I said, when an enemy’s in retreat, fix bayonets and pursue.”

— Steve Bannon, on his podcast, welcoming the MAGA civil war with Elon Musk.

“President-elect Donald Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles sent a message Sunday ordering nominees to refrain from any posting on social media as Senate confirmation hearings are scheduled to start next week,” the New York Post reports.

Said Wiles: “While this instruction has been delivered previously, I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself.”

“Matthew Graves, the top federal prosecutor for the District, announced Monday that he was resigning his post as U.S. attorney days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office,” the Washington Post reports.

“Graves led what the Justice Department has called the largest investigation it has ever conducted: prosecuting those who participated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But Trump has promised to pardon many of the rioters, undoing much of Graves’s work.”

New York Times: “Mr. Musk has been using one of the cottages available for rent on Mr. Trump’s property at Mar-a-Lago, the former Marjorie Merriweather Post home in Florida that Mr. Trump converted into a members-only club and hotel in the 1990s… The cottage where he has been staying, named Banyan, is several hundred feet away from the main house.”

“Staying right on the grounds has helped provide Mr. Musk with easy access to Mr. Trump.”

“He can drop in on Mr. Trump’s dinners, such as one he had recently with Mr. Musk’s rival, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.”

Semafor: Elon Musk’s influence on spending, immigration spans political spectrum.

President-elect Donald Trump said former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday, did “everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans,” The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Trump added that while he “strongly disagreed” with Carter “philosophically and politically,” he also realized that Carter “truly loved and respected our Country and all it stands for.”

“Justice Department lawyers who have angered President-elect Donald Trump and his allies are facing tough decisions about whether to stay in government—and how to best protect themselves from threats of retribution after Inauguration Day,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Law firms say they have seen an unprecedented flood of résumés from department lawyers looking for the exits.”

Paul Krugman: “Like many observers, I expected severe buyers’ regret fairly early in the second Trump administration. After all, many Americans who voted for Trump did so because they believed he would bring down grocery prices. He was never going to be able to deliver on that promise and stopped talking about the subject as soon as the election was over; sooner or later, voters were going to notice.”

“I did not, however, expect a MAGA civil war weeks before Trump had even taken office. But in retrospect I should have seen it coming.”