David Graham: “As the 2016 presidential election drew to an end, Donald Trump began using a new slogan: ‘Drain the swamp.’ It was a neat encapsulation of his critique of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, and of the country’s governing establishment of both parties, which he painted as corrupt, cozy, and self-dealing.”

“These days, the catchphrase has begun to vanish from his repertoire. Last month, The Washington Post calculated that Trump had used it ‘just 59 times on Truth Social, his social media site, in the past two years—fewer times than he wrote about it on Twitter in October 2016 alone.’ The shift isn’t just semantic, either. Trump’s staffing decisions, his transition design, and his own behavior show that he is uninterested in even keeping up appearances this time. Trump himself will never say it, but the credo of his second term is coming into focus: Fill the swamp.”

President Donald Trump isn’t moving on from embattled pick for Defense secretary Pete Hegseth yet, calling the former Fox News personality’s support “strong and deep” in a post to his social media site, Politico reports.

Daily Beast: “The sit-down failed to produce any bombshell revelations, but some Kremlin insiders believe it was merely a cover for what Carlson is really doing in Moscow.”

“While the former Fox host is positioning himself as a dove of peace, toiling to prevent a nuclear war, Putin’s acolytes say he is also acting as a carrier pigeon for the Russian president and privately delivering his messages to Trump.”

“Foreign leaders have lined up to speak with him. He has rattled Mexico and Canada with threats of steep tariffs and warned there would be ‘hell to pay’ for militants in Gaza unless they release the hostages by the time he’s sworn in,” NBC News reports.

“That won’t happen for another 45 days, but Donald Trump, the president-in-waiting, isn’t shying away from acting like the president-in-reality.”

“Trump can’t sign a bill or issue an executive order yet, but he is crowding out Joe Biden as the sitting president winds down his term and steadily recedes from public view. In two foreign trips since the election, Biden has answered all of two questions from reporters.”

“Since becoming President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard’s rosy posture toward Moscow has prompted some Democratic critics to suggest that she could be ‘compromised,’ or perhaps even a ‘Russian asset’ — claims the ex-Hawaii representative and Army officer has forcefully denied,” ABC News reports.

“But former advisers to Gabbard suggest that her views on Russia and its polarizing leader, Vladimir Putin, have been shaped not by some covert intelligence recruitment as far as they know — but instead by her unorthodox media consumption habits.”

Washington Poat: “Hegseth has been told not to expect Trump to apply pressure to Republican senators to get him over the finish line, according to two people familiar with the discussions.”

Playbook: “Depending how his nomination ends up, you can look back on Trump’s decision as either the kiss of death for Hegseth’s nomination, or the thing that gets him over the finish line with Republican senators by forcing him to earn it on his own.”

New York Times: “Broadly speaking, polls show most Americans do want change in many of the areas where Mr. Trump has promised sweeping reform, including the economy and immigration. But when asked about specific policies and the effects on their daily lives, Americans, including many who voted for Mr. Trump, aren’t always as supportive and often have mixed opinions…”

“That’s not to say that polling suggests all of Mr. Trump’s plans are unpopular — but they aren’t all broadly popular, either. Instead, polling reveals that many Americans hold nuanced views on some of the issues Mr. Trump plans to tackle or are unsure how they feel about them.”

“President-elect Trump has assembled an administration of unprecedented, mind-boggling wealth — smashing his own first-term record by billions of dollars,” Axios reports.

“That’s even without counting the ballooning fortunes of his prized outside adviser and the world’s richest man: Elon Musk.”

“It’s not hyperbole to call this a government of billionaires. Whether it acts as a government for billionaires — as Democrats argue is inevitable — could test and potentially tarnish Trump’s populist legacy.”

“Donald Trump has selected former Georgia Sen. David Perdue to serve as ambassador to China,” Politico reports.

“Perdue has significant business experience in Asia, including China, something he ran on during his Senate election in 2014. As the former CEO of Dollar General and a top executive at Sara Lee and Reebok, Perdue was responsible for significant corporate restructuring and global expansion, and has lived in both Singapore and Hong Kong.”

“Donald Trump’s allies are scrambling to save Pete Hegseth after the president-elect’s pick to lead the Pentagon struggled to win over skeptical Republicans in a flurry of meetings on Capitol Hill this week,” CNN reports.

“Trump is still standing by his choice, telling Hegseth he wants to see him fight for votes in the Senate, though they also acknowledged that the president-elect could withdraw his support at any time.”

“Trump and those around him still see a pathway for Hegseth to be confirmed, the sources said, though they noted the Senate math can change quickly — and some of Trump’s allies are ramping up public pressure on senators who have so far declined to commit to Hegseth.”

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to attend the Army-Navy football game on December 14, Politico reports.

Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts was at Mar-a-Lago today for an event “and introduced himself as from Project 2025 and being here to help,” the Washington Post reports.

As he embraced a combative brand of Christianity in recent years, Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth wrote that people who enjoy the benefits of Western civilization should “thank a Crusader,” the New York Times reports.

“Hegseth’s interest in the Crusades — campaigns that featured so many atrocities that many Christian leaders today view them as a shameful stain on the religion’s history — is linked both to his Christian beliefs and worldview.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said Thursday he is confident that Kash Patel “will be” confirmed to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Politico reports.

He said Patel had “vast experience” and had been highly recommended by “people I have great respect for.”

“As Ric Grenell made a bid after the election to be Donald Trump’s secretary of State, a flurry of social media posts from MAGA influencers started popping up, advocating for the president-elect to pick him,” Politico reports.

“Around the same time, an associate of Grenell had approached conservative social media influencers, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, offering paid contracts of as much as five figures to post favorably about Grenell.”

“One such contract outlined that the influencer would do so during ‘peak posting times,’ that ‘content must appear genuine,’ and it could not ‘appear as an overt advertisement or promotional message.'”