“When JD Vance, his wife Usha and their three young children move into the Naval Observatory residence on Jan. 20, it will be their first time inside the white Queen Anne-style mansion that has been home to vice presidents since the 1970s,” CBS News reports.

“Vice President Kamala Harris has not extended an invitation for a formal sit-down or tour.”

“Elon Musk is expected to use office space in the White House complex as he launches the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to slash government spending in the Trump administration,“ the New York Times reports.

“The space will be in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House. The location could allow Mr. Musk, who owns companies with billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government, to continue to have significant access to President-elect Donald Trump when he takes office this month.”

“Michael Allen, a longtime Republican national security expert, was recently ousted as the ‘sherpa’ for CIA director nominee John Ratcliffe because he had co-hosted a campaign fundraiser for Liz Cheney,” Politico reports.

“Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming economic team are discussing slowly ramping up tariffs month by month, a gradual approach aimed at boosting negotiating leverage while helping avoid a spike in inflation,” Bloomberg reports.

“One idea involves a schedule of graduated tariffs increasing by about 2% to 5% a month, and would rely on executive authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.”

“President-elect Donald Trump is planning to visit fire-ravaged Los Angeles as soon as next week to view the damage and assess recovery needs,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The exact timing of the visit remains in flux, but Trump’s advisers are tentatively considering a trip to the city late next week, following Monday’s inauguration.”

“Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has voiced strong opposition to removing the names of Confederate generals from US military bases, repeatedly saying the names should be changed back,” CNN reports.

“U.S. flags at President-elect Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height,” the AP reports.

“Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29. A large flag on Trump’s property in Palm Beach was initially lowered to half-staff according to protocol but has since been raised in the days after Carter was buried Thursday in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.”

Punchbowl News: “Trump went all out trying to butter up House Republicans while he hosted them at his Florida club this weekend. It’s clear these meetings were less about substance and more about sweetening up the members who hold the keys to his agenda. They were given signed swag, dined on steak and lobster and eagerly posed for pictures with Trump and Elon Musk.”

“We’re told Trump was in his element, and at one point, even cracked a joke about the assassination attempt on his life, saying something along the lines of: ‘It would be a ding on God if, after the million-to-one chance that bullet didn’t kill me, he didn’t let me win!'”

“The flurry of meetings offers a preview of how hands-on Trump plans to be with Capitol Hill. That being said, if the charm offensive falls flat, don’t be surprised to see Trump turn up the heat on members instead.”

“House Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would allow President-elect Trump to enter into negotiations with Denmark to acquire Greenland,” Axios reports.

“Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said in a news release on Monday that he would set aside the customary 30-day observance period in which flags outside public buildings have been lowered in recognition of former President Jimmy Carter’s death to celebrate President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week,” the New York Times reports.

“The announcement that flags at all state buildings would be raised next Monday came as a symbolic show of deference to Mr. Trump that broke with the federal mourning period for Mr. Carter, recognizing the president-elect’s inauguration over the tributes to an ex-president in Texas on that day.”

“President-elect Donald Trump’s team is engaged in conversations about his visiting Los Angeles to view the wildfire damage,” NBC News reports.

“Trump, who has repeatedly criticized local and state officials for their response to the fire, has been invited out by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Rep Judy Chu, also a Democrat, said Sunday on CBS News she intended to invite both Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as well.”

Gallup: “More Americans approve (51%) than disapprove (44%) of the way Donald Trump is handling his presidential transition. That represents an improvement from his first presidential transition, when he received equally positive and negative ratings in December 2016 and then more negative than positive ratings in January 2017. Trump’s current transition ratings still rank well below those for other recent presidents-elect.”

“All incoming presidents since Bill Clinton had transition approval ratings of at least 61%, with approval exceeding disapproval by 30 or more percentage points for each.”

Thomas Zimmer: “I fear that, after so many years of Trumpism shaping American politics and culture, a lot of people have become so inundated with Trump’s bizarre stunts, so accustomed to his outrageous rhetoric, that they might be numb to how dangerous this is – and how much this isn’t just ‘Trump being Trump,’ but the face of a radicalizing Right in charge of the Republican Party.”

“There is, unfortunately, no law of nature that says democracy can’t be brought down and wars can’t be started by a bunch of clowns if they have enough support from people, parties, and institutions who enable them. It’s all just a farce – until the goons and buffoons are in power. And that’s where we are.”

Associated Press: “Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by President-elect Donald Trump’s team.”

“Melania Trump, the former and incoming first lady, said in an interview broadcast on Monday that she planned to live and work full time in the White House during Donald Trump’s second term, addressing speculation about whether she would be a regular presence in Washington,” the New York Times reports.

Said Trump: “When I need to be in New York, I will be in New York. When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach. But my first priority is, you know, to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife.”

Olga Khazan: “Like their conservative counterparts, liberal preppers are worried about the stability of the economy and the power grid, but unlike the conservatives, they also worry about climate-change-induced disasters and the potential that Trump will weaken America’s security through foreign-policy snafus.”

Steve Bannon launched a stinging attack on Elon Musk, calling him a “truly evil person,” the New York Times reports.

Said Bannon, to an Italian newspaper: “I will get Elon Musk kicked out by the time he’s inaugurated. He won’t have a blue pass with full access to the White House. He’ll be like everyone else.”

He added: “He’s a truly evil person. Stopping him has become a personal issue for me.”

The “Department of Government Efficiency” run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is “now unlikely to incorporate as an organized outside entity or nonprofit,” the New York Times reports.

“Instead, it is likely to exist as more of a brand for an interlinked group of aspirational leaders who are on joint group chats and share a loyalty to Mr. Musk or Mr. Ramaswamy.”