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Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 192

November Surprises

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 192: November Surprises

Trump Signals Warmer Tone Than the Last Time

January 17, 2025 · 8:04 am ET · 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.

Trump Transition

Trump Ready to Bypass Congress on Border and Tariffs

January 17, 2025 · 7:40 am ET · 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.”

Trump Transition

Trump Picks Elon Musk Pal to Go Get Greenland

January 16, 2025 · 6:29 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“Ken Howery is a quiet, unassuming tech investor who prioritizes discretion. And yet, he has ended up in the middle of two of the noisiest story lines of the incoming Trump administration,” the New York Times reports.

“One is the expanding ambition of Elon Musk, Mr. Howery’s close friend and fellow party-scene fixture since the two helped run PayPal 25 years ago.”

“The other is the expansionist ambition of Mr. Musk’s boss, President-elect Donald Trump, who has set his sights on buying Greenland, the world’s largest island.”

“As Mr. Trump’s pick for ambassador to Denmark, Mr. Howery is expected to be central to what Mr. Trump hopes will be a real-estate deal of epic proportions. The only hitch is that Denmark, which counts Greenland as its autonomous territory, says the island is not for sale.”

Trump Transition

TikTok to Sponsor Trump Inauguration Party

January 16, 2025 · 6:03 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“TikTok is spending $50,000 on an inauguration party honoring influencers who helped Donald Trump spread his campaign message, according to the party organizer — and it’s scheduled for Sunday, the deadline for the company to spin off from its China-based owner or be banned in the U.S.,” Politico reports.

“CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend.”

Technology, Trump Transition

Elon Musk to Speak at Trump Rally This Weekend

January 16, 2025 · 5:28 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Elon Musk is among the opening speakers who will precede President-elect Donald Trump at his pre-inaugural rally in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, NBC News reports.

Trump Transition

Stephen Miller Has Built More Power Than Ever

January 16, 2025 · 2:12 pm ET · Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Mr. Miller was influential in Mr. Trump’s first term but stands to be exponentially more so this time. He holds the positions of deputy chief of staff, with oversight of domestic policy, and homeland security adviser, which gives him range to coordinate among cabinet agencies. He will be a key legislative strategist and is expected to play an important role in crafting Mr. Trump’s speeches, as he has done since he joined the first Trump campaign in 2016.”

“Most significantly, Mr. Miller will be in charge of Mr. Trump’s signature issue and the one that Mr. Miller has been fixated on since childhood: immigration. And he has been working, in secrecy, to oversee the team drafting the dozens of executive orders that Mr. Trump will sign after he takes office on Jan. 20.”

Trump Transition

New Trump Portrait Mimics Mug Shot

January 16, 2025 · 1:56 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“President-elect Trump sported a familiar stone-faced stare in his official portrait revealed just days before he makes his White House return,” Axios reports.

“The nontraditional portrait is starkly different from his first term pose, where he grins under even lighting. Instead, with the up-shot glow, a raised eyebrow and a tight-lipped mouth, it’s reminiscent of another photo: his historic mug shot.”

“The Trump-Vance transition team, in a release sharing their official portraits, said the photos ‘go hard.'”

Trump Transition

Trump Sees the Best Ratings of His Political Career

January 16, 2025 · 12:55 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump continues to see some of the most positive ratings of his political career, according to a new CNN poll, which finds the president-elect poised to enter his second term with far more positive sentiment behind him than when he last occupied the White House.”

“The public also broadly sees it as likely that he’ll carry out some of the economic and immigration policy promises central to his campaign and believes that he will follow through on threats to use his executive power to go after rivals and pardon people convicted related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.”

Trump Transition

Quote of the Day

January 16, 2025 · 12:11 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“I’m feeling like a kid again with Trump’s invite. I’m fired up. I’m not even taking Viagra anymore.”

— Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonarro, quoted by the New York Times, on being invited to Donald Trump’s inauguration.

However, Bloomberg reports Brazil’s Supreme Court barred Bolsonaro from leaving the country.
Taegan

Trump Transition

Nancy Pelosi Won’t Attend Trump’s Inauguration

January 16, 2025 · 11:51 am ET · Leave a Comment

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will not be attending President-elect Trump’s inauguration on Monday, The Hill reports.

House of Representatives, Trump Transition

One of the Coldest Inaugurations Ever

January 16, 2025 · 11:48 am ET · Leave a Comment

“It will be bitterly cold for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday as temperatures dip well below average for this time of year in the D.C. area,” WTOP reports.

“The weather forecast calls for a chance of snow Sunday followed by gusty winds and high temperatures only around 20 degrees.”

Trump Transition

House GOP Asks Trump to Hold Back on Executive Orders

January 16, 2025 · 10:01 am ET · Leave a Comment

“The House Republican leadership has asked the incoming Trump administration to hold off on rolling back several Biden-era policies by executive order so that GOP lawmakers can repeal them in a reconciliation bill instead,” Punchbowl News reports.

“The GOP-run Congress has to find savings as part of any reconciliation package. And if President-elect Donald Trump wipes out big-ticket Biden policies using executive orders, Congress can’t claim them as savings in reconciliation.”

Trump Transition

‘Everyone’s Trying to Kiss the Ring’

January 16, 2025 · 9:09 am ET · Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump’s first White House victory caught corporate America flat-footed. This time around, industries that his administration will soon oversee are showering his inaugural committee with record-breaking donations — and making sure both the president-elect and the public notice their largesse,” Politico reports.

“Not only are companies giving far larger amounts than they did to Trump’s first inauguration — when they didn’t have a firm grasp of how to handle misgivings about the mercurial politician — they’re doing so in a far more public fashion, announcing the donations months before they have to be reported to federal regulators.”

Trump Transition

Trump Unveils His White House Blacklist

January 16, 2025 · 7:52 am ET · Leave a Comment

President-elect Donald Trump named a handful of former staffers as “people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and asked the public to not recommend job candidates that had previously worked with any of them, the Daily Beast reports.

Trump Legacy, Trump Transition

An Administration of the Uber-Wealthy

January 16, 2025 · 7:48 am ET · Leave a Comment

CNN: “Trump is returning to the White House after making appeals to working-class voters in last year’s election, but he has assembled one of the wealthiest administrations in history – turning to nearly a dozen people worth at least $1 billion on their own or combined with their spouses’ assets – to oversee the nation’s policies and represent the US overseas as ambassadors.”

“This class of uber-rich officials has begun the process of detailing their vast wealth for public disclosure and developing plans with government ethics officers to unwind holdings that could pose conflicts of interest.”

Trump Transition

Trump Plans Quick Swap of U.S. Attorneys

January 16, 2025 · 6:49 am ET · Leave a Comment

“The Trump transition is attempting to remove US attorneys immediately by replacing them with interim leaders who’d be aligned with the president-elect’s priorities,“ Bloomberg Law reports.

“Transition staffers have been working to identify existing career prosecutors in many of the nation’s 93 law enforcement districts who they’d feel confident would support the president-elect’s law enforcement priorities—including deportations—once elevated as acting US attorneys, said the attorneys.”

Trump Transition

Google CEO to Join Other Tech Moguls at Inauguration

January 16, 2025 · 6:35 am ET · Leave a Comment

“Google CEO Sundar Pichai will join the growing list of tech executives sitting on the dais as President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office on Monday,” Politico reports.

The New York Times reports TikTok’s CEO is also likely to be there.

Trump Transition

Microsoft CEO Dined with Trump and Musk

January 16, 2025 · 6:31 am ET · Leave a Comment

President-elect Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance had lunch with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Wednesday, along with Elon Musk, Semafor reports.

Technology, Trump Transition

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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