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Mike Pence Will Attend Trump’s Inauguration

January 18, 2025 at 7:35 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Vice President Mike Pence is planning to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the New York Times reports.

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Trump as His Own Executive Producer

January 18, 2025 at 7:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Imagery — and Mr. Trump’s mastery of it — played a vital role in powering his return to the White House. In many ways, Mr. Trump was not just a candidate navigating the 2024 race but the executive producer of his own political comeback…”

“In the 2024 race, Mr. Trump repeatedly used visuals to reframe political vulnerabilities — indictments, a trial, a conviction — as visceral symbols of strength and resilience. He showed remarkable instincts as he rose from being shot by a would-be assassin to pumping his fist in the air, the campaign’s most indelible image. And he manufactured a series of memorable moments that broke through the clutter of the campaign, perhaps none more so than handing out French fries from a McDonald’s drive-through window.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Republicans Are Starting to Clash in Trump’s Big Tent

January 18, 2025 at 7:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Even before he takes the oath of office on Monday, cracks in his freshly expanded coalition have emerged. With their divides, the incoming president and his party are being forced to confront a reality that has often tripped up Democrats: A bigger tent means more room for fighting underneath it.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition


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Support for Trump’s Policies Exceeds Trump’s Support

January 18, 2025 at 7:02 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Many Americans who otherwise dislike President-elect Donald Trump share his bleak assessment of the country’s problems and support some of his most contentious prescriptions to fix them,” according to a new New York Times/Ipsos poll.

“A little more than half of the country expresses some desire to see Mr. Trump follow through with his harshest threat to deal with illegal immigration: deporting everyone living in the United States without authorization.”

“Americans are more evenly split on whether Mr. Trump should implement tariffs on countries like China and Mexico, which he has vowed to do as a way to reduce reliance on foreign goods. Still, 46 percent say that trade with foreign nations should be subject to increased tariffs.”

“And a large majority is sympathetic to efforts to strictly limit how doctors can treat children struggling with their gender identity — an issue Mr. Trump and other Republicans made central to their campaigns for office.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Trump Has Conquered D.C. Even Before Taking Office

January 18, 2025 at 6:59 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President-elect Donald Trump is returning to Washington triumphant: His legal cases are behind him, corporate executives are flocking to Mar-a-Lago to meet with him, his inaugural committee has raised record sums of money for Monday’s ceremony and the Republican Party is now fully in his control,” the Washington Post reports.

“It’s a stark contrast both to his 2017 inauguration — when Trump came to Washington as a political unknown without close personal relationships to his Cabinet or congressional leaders — and to his departure from the Oval Office in January 2021, when he was widely condemned for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Voters Want MAGA Lite From Trump

January 17, 2025 at 6:24 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal Poll: “Some 53% want Trump to make significant changes in how government is run once he is inaugurated Monday. But more than 60% oppose one of his central ideas for doing so—replacing thousands of career civil-service workers with people chosen by the president.”

“More than 60% also oppose eliminating the Education Department, a marquee Trump proposal for paring the federal government. Only 18% would supersede congressional powers and give Trump more authority over federal spending, as he has proposed.”

“Similarly, the poll finds that, while voters want Trump to build his promised wall along the border with Mexico and address illegal immigration, they also want limits to his plans for sweeping deportations of undocumented immigrants.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Inauguration Shift Causes Chaos

January 17, 2025 at 5:31 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to shift his inauguration from the West Front of the Capitol to the Rotunda — and much of the event to Capital One Arena downtown — has set off a chaotic scramble as congressional officials, lawmakers, Trump’s transition team and Trump’s donors and supporters jockey to figure out who can attend,” Punchbowl News reports.

“It’s virtually guaranteed that many lawmakers who want to attend will be unable to do so… We’d also guess that Democrats who were on the fence about going will just skip the event entirely.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

RFK Jr. Sought to Stop Covid Vaccinations

January 17, 2025 at 4:08 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s health agencies, formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the authorization of all Covid vaccines during a deadly phase of the pandemic when thousands of Americans were still dying every week,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Kennedy filed a petition with the F.D.A. in May 2021 demanding that officials rescind authorization for the shots and refrain from approving any Covid vaccine in the future.”

Filed Under: Health Care, Trump Transition

Inside the Early Days of DOGE

January 17, 2025 at 3:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “Their work has been shrouded in secrecy, conducted on Signal and at SpaceX offices a few blocks from the White House. Team members have been dispatched to federal agencies to review them for cuts. And Elon Musk, their leader and the world’s richest man, continues to be at President-elect Donald Trump’s side…”

“DOGE is expected to work closely with the Office of Management and Budget, making recommendations to Congress and the Trump administration on ways to bring down spending and cut regulations. DOGE officials have focused on ways that their goals can be accomplished through executive action as opposed to legislatively.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Pam Bondi Owns $3.9 Million in Truth Social

January 17, 2025 at 12:45 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi, disclosed owning more than $3.9 million in stock in Trump’s “Truth Social” platform in December, Business Insider reports.

Her total net worth in December was more than $12.1 million.

Filed Under: Trump Transition

IRS Commissioner to Quit as Trump Takes Office

January 17, 2025 at 12:36 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said he would resign with nearly three years left in his term, leaving the government Monday rather than waiting for President-elect Donald Trump to remove him,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Werfel’s decision to quit on Inauguration Day sidesteps a looming confrontation between the tax agency chief and the incoming administration. Trump last month announced his plan to replace Werfel with Billy Long, a former Republican congressman. But until now, Werfel hadn’t said whether he would leave or try to stay until Long’s confirmation, at which point Werfel would be forced out.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Garbage Truck Will Be at Trump’s Inauguration Ceremony

January 17, 2025 at 11:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The garbage truck that President-elect Donald Trump rode in as a comeback to remarks by President Joe Biden will make an appearance at Monday’s inauguration, WLUC reports.

Back in October, Biden referred to Trump’s supporters as “garbage,” prompting Trump to climb into the passenger seat of a garbage truck.

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Trump’s Advisers May Move His Swearing-In Indoors

January 17, 2025 at 10:46 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Officials involved in President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration may move his swearing-in on Monday inside the Capitol rotunda because of weather concerns,” the New York Times reports.

“Such a change would mean that far fewer people are able to watch the moment when Mr. Trump officially becomes the 47th president, leaving it to those indoors and those watching on television.”

“But the conversation has focused on the extreme cold that is forecast for Monday, when temperatures are projected to hit a low of 11 degrees and a high of only 23 degrees.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Capitol Rioters Return to DC to Celebrate

January 17, 2025 at 9:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Some rioters charged or convicted in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol are returning to Washington, DC, for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration,“ CNN reports.

“But some federal judges also recently blocked a handful of other January 6 defendants from attending the inauguration, agreeing with Justice Department prosecutors who argued that letting the rioters ‘return to the scene of the crime’ could put police officers in danger.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

White House Pandemic Office Loses Half Its Staff

January 17, 2025 at 8:40 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Time: “By Inauguration Day on Monday, most of the pandemic office’s staff will have cleared out their desks. The office, officially known as the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, or OPPR, is losing more than half of its 18-person staff as the Biden Administration hands off the duties to a Trump Administration that has yet to fill multiple key pandemic-response positions.”

“The political appointees in charge of the office—director Paul Friedrichs and deputy director Nikki Romanik—are leaving to make way for potential Trump appointments, and several of the office’s 14 career staffers, whose assignments to the White House office were temporary, are returning to their home agencies.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition, White House

Even Trump’s Controversial Picks Advance

January 17, 2025 at 8:22 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“When President-elect Donald Trump first unveiled his picks to staff his new administration, some of the more unconventional names sparked gasps and speculation that they could not amass enough support to be confirmed even in a GOP-controlled Senate,” the Washington Post reports.

“But three days ahead of Trump’s return to the White House, many of his most prominent Cabinet choices have sailed relatively unscathed through their hearings and are poised to win confirmation as Republican senators rallied around them and appeared largely unwilling to defy Trump’s wishes.”

Filed Under: Senate, Trump Transition

Trump Signals Warmer Tone Than the Last Time

January 17, 2025 at 8:04 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President-elect Donald Trump plans to strike a more optimistic tone at his inaugural festivities than his “American carnage” message during his first inaugural address, Axios reports.

Filed Under: Trump Transition

Trump Ready to Bypass Congress on Border and Tariffs

January 17, 2025 at 7:40 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Days before his inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump made clear in a two-hour private meeting with Senate Republicans that he wouldn’t wait on them to start implementing his biggest policy priorities: overhauling the immigration system and dramatically reshaping the country’s relationship with its economic allies and adversaries,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“With the experience of governing and a better knowledge of the levers of power, Trump has drafted expansive plans for tariffs and border restrictions, the centerpieces of his 2024 campaign. He has already prepared roughly 100 executive orders, Trump told lawmakers in the meeting, and said he would press the limits of his presidential authority at times to go it alone on those issues.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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