Middleboro Review 2: 01/17/25

Friday, January 17, 2025

Today in Politics, Bulletin 50. 1/17/25

Ron Filipkowski

Jan 18

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… MAGA supporters in DC for the inaugural are upset about Trump’s announcement today that he is moving his inauguration indoors because it’s too cold in DC.

… NBC interviewed several Trump supporters in DC today who just flew in for the big event: “So we’re not gonna see it in person? I don’t like it. We came all the way here from Oklahoma. We might as well have stayed home and watched it on the TV. It sucks. We have farms, we don’t get to not feed the cows because it’s cold!”

… Trump said it will be too cold in DC on Monday for his inauguration, so he will move things inside. You really can’t expect an old, frail Florida Man in poor health to be able to handle an outdoor inauguration. He was probably also worried about a weak crowd size and lack of enthusiasm humiliating him.

… David Axelrod noted that the windchill was 7 degrees at JFK’s inauguration, the same for Obama’s in 2009, and minus 2 for Reagan in 1985.

… Of course, Trump only claimed that he was doing this because he is concerned about his guests: “There is an arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way. It is dangerous conditions.”

… Except he didn’t care about that during the campaign. All summer long we documented rally after rally where he did them outdoors in the middle of the day where people passed out and went to the hospital because he was too cheap to rent an indoor venue. In some cases, he was unable to rent venues because he still owed them money from his 2020 and 2016 campaigns that he never paid.

… Trump did his rally in AZ in 102 degree heat at 2:00 PM and two dozen people needed medical treatment. He did it in the middle of the day because he had a fundraiser in Beverly Hills that night. His rally attendees have to get there many hours before the rally starts to go through the magnetometers. So while Trump flies in, gives his speech and leaves, those people are out there all day in oppressive heat. He couldn’t care less.

… But now he wants us to believe that he is not worried about himself, but is just concerned about attendees to his inauguration? Right.

… Marge Greene isn’t buying Trump’s story: “I have personally attended countless rallies where President Trump spoke in extreme weather conditions. Is there a security threat other than extreme cold temperatures?”

… Tim Walz then trolled Trump by posting a picture of himself giving a speech outside during a heavy snowstorm with the mics covered in snow with the caption: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.”

… NBC is reporting that Barack and Michelle Obama, George W. and Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton all will not attend Donald Trump’s inauguration. But Kid Rock was complaining on Fox last night specifically about Michelle Obama not going, because they have MODS - Michelle Obama Derangement Syndrome. The Obamas have been out of the WH for 8 years now, and they still talk about Michelle every single day on Fox. Rent free.

… The Supreme Court of Brazil has denied disgraced former President Jair Bolsonaro’s request to leave the country to attend Trump’s inauguration at his invitation.

… Fox is reporting that President Musk will have an office at the White House in the Executive Office Building next door. Trump gets to play the role as president, while Musk is in the building with the policymakers running the country.

… Nancy Mace is now fuming at SC Republicans after ads were run in her state by a dark money group claiming her voting record on abortion is too liberal. Mace is pointing her fingers at her potential rivals in the 2026 SC Governor’s race. She told the conservative SC outlet FITSews: “I haven’t announced a run for governor yet, but it’s good to see people like Alan and Pam are concerned about my next move. That’s the worst kept secret in SC politics.”

… Mace is referring to SC AG Alan Wilson and Lt. Gov. Pamela Everett, who are reportedly Mace’s future rivals in the governor’s race.

… Mace commented on Wilson’s denials that he was behind the ads: “The best part of this idea that I might run for Governor is the establishment already hitting the panic button, because they’re scared. The AG and Lt. Governor either deny or don’t comment on who was behind it. It’s all so predictable. So fake. So contrived. The establishment can go clutch their pearls a little bit harder.”

… It seems that a mystery sugar daddy stepped up yesterday and bailed Rudy Giuliani out a jam by putting up a major chunk of cash to settle the defamation case and contempt proceedings with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. He had to agree never to speak about them again. It had to have been a substantial amount of cash to get this done, and Rudy is broke.

… Rudy: “This litigation has taken its toll on all parties. The whole episode was unfortunate. The plaintiffs and I agreed not to ever talk about each other in any defamatory manner, and I urge others to do the same.” Freeman and Moss don’t talk about Rudy. They have never talked about Rudy. They aren’t the issue.

… Somebody came up with a big check for Rudy, but who? CNN said they contacted attorneys for both sides in the case, and nobody is talking. We will keep digging. It certainly should be interesting to find out who it was.

… Rudy isn’t off the hook yet, though. He still have several criminal and civil cases pending against him.

… The NYT is reporting that Stephen Miller is so racist that he sometimes goes too far even for racist Trump: “In one meeting during the 2024 campaign, Trump said that if it was up Miller there would only be 100 million people in this country, and they would all look like Miller.”

… Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that he has appointed his Lt. Gov Jon Husted to JD Vance’s vacated seat in the Senate. He apparently ignored Trump’s recommendation to appoint Vivek Ramaswamy. Husted is considered an old guard establishment Republican, so MAGA activists aren’t exactly thrilled. I dug up an old Husted tweet about Trump from 2015 and posted it on X for all the MAGA influencers who follow me:

… WaPo is reporting that now Vivek will leave his partnership with Elon Musk on the DOGE committee to run for Governor of Ohio. So he quit before it even started.

… Long-time Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who is rumored to also be running for governor in 2026, has to be praying that Vivek will get the Republican nomination. He is absolutely the most beatable Republican in Ohio for that race. Especially when someone does a deep dive on how he made his fortune.

… Trump told Dan Bongino on his show that Republicans need to hold disaster aid to CA fire victims hostage to include it in his reconciliation bill with massive tax cuts and all of his other toxic stuff, which would hold it up and force some Dems to have to either vote against aid to CA or vote for his entire agenda: “They want that aid for LA so badly. We should not do a bill unless LA is included. When we include LA, then we will get everything we want” from Democrats.

… But Alabama Senator Katie Britt told Politico that she does not agree with fellow Republican AL Senator Tommy Tuberville and others that aid to CA for the wildfires should be conditioned: “I think what we need to be doing right now is standing firmly with the people of CA, letting them know they have or support and that we stand ready to be thoughtful about ways that we can help in making sure that they have the resources they need.”

… Bongino also asked Trump about his pardon announcement for J6 defendants. Trump: “Your audience is going to be very happy with the things I’m going to be announcing on Monday.”

… Bongino has been calling for J6 pardons for all defendants. But Vance said last week it would only be for non-violent J6ers, and got huge MAGA backlash. That Vance appearance now feels a lot to me like Trump had him put that out there to see how strong the reaction was going to be from his base, and now he is going to change his position again.

… That is a classic Trump move. Have a surrogate float or leak something that he thinks might be unpopular with MAGA. If there is not much reaction, he rolls it out. If there is a big backlash, he blames the surrogate and lets them take the heat, or just claims the whole thing was fake news. I think he has been doing that with J6 pardons.

… Olivia Troye had words for Stephen Miller’s wife Katie after she trashed their former boss Mike Pence because he fired her: “You were a completely incompetent press secretary who put Americans lives at risk, gave poor advice and behaved liked the office toddler. Your ineptitude, lack of morals & integrity were obvious to the entire Mike Pence operation. Speaking of DEI hires and ‘standards’— the only reason you got hired was because you used your hateful fear mongering husband as your qualifications. Go back to eating your fro-yo, smacking your gum and being the office troll. The role suits your level of expertise.”

… Katie Miller responded: “I’ve never chewed gum. Your grift is gross.” That was it, so I guess she admits the rest of it is true except the gum part.

… The PM of Greenland told Fox they have no interest in becoming part of the US. Mute Egede: “We want to be Greenlanders. We will always be part of NATO. We will always be a strong partner of the US. But we also want to be clear: We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be part of the US.”

… Another Greenlander told Fox: “The US used to be a place that was sort of admired here. And basically, all the goodwill that they used to have is almost gone now.” It will be completely gone in a month. Thanks Trump.

… Elon Musk’s latest rocket blew up shortly after launch during its 7th attempt, sending fiery debris streaking above the Caribbean sea and grounding nearby aircraft. SpaceX lost the upper portion of the Starship rocket, which exploded 8 minutes after it blasted off. The mishap caused widespread disruptions to air traffic. Some flights at Miami International Airport had to be grounded, and least 20 commercial flights had to be diverted to other airports or altered course to avoid potential debris.

… Musk: “Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall.”

… Rand Paul on the CA wildfires today: “I see these homes burning, if they just had a generator and a hose, you start sucking the water out of the The Pacific Ocean. Why don't they take the ocean water and put it in cisterns have a bunch of water ready when a wildfire shows up? Once again, bad local government.” A generator and a hose. Why didn’t CA firefighters think of that?

… Former CNN correspondent Oliver Darcy is reporting that CNN is about to move Jim Acosta’s popular daytime show to the cable news graveyard of midnight-2 AM. It is reportedly being done because he is perceived as too anti-Trump by the network. Acosta has strong ratings in his time slot and is one of the most popular hosts on the network with their remaining viewers. Darcy: “The move would effectively exile Acosta to the Siberia of television news.”

… Trump despises Acosta, once calling him “a rude, terrible person.” Darcy quotes a media executive with this take: “They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump. Midnight is not a serious offer when his ratings are among the best on the network.”

… Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan says he wants to do DNA testing on migrant children to see if they are really biologically related to their parents or if they have been smuggled in to be trafficked: “We know for a fact that some of these families aren’t families. We need to do a deep dive to make sure these families are really families.”

… Not only did Trump have Mike Johnson remove anti-Putin Rep. Mike Turner from his position as Chair of House Intel, he had him removed from the committee entirely, when there is no single House Republican more knowledgable, reliable, and experienced to serve on that committee than Turner.

… After Turner was removed, he skipped all votes in the House for the rest of the day and then skipped all votes yesterday.

… Rep. Jamie Raskin on Turner’s ouster: “The autocrats at Mar-a-Lago don’t want him. The autocrats in Moscow don’t want him. He’s extremely popular with Democrats and who knows what is going to happen at this point.”

… Sen. Adam Schiff: “There was a time when Republicans speculated about whether Trump could become Speaker of the House. In many ways, it appears he already is.”

… Mike Johnson continues to whine and cry about Gavin Newsom posting video clips on social media calling out his lies: “Instead of making highly produced clap-back videos with social media influencers, you should go to work helping Californians.”

… This is how you know what Newsom is doing is effective. Newsom understands that the world has changed and in this new era where right-wing politicians pounce on every natural disaster or tragedy to spew a torrent of lies against Dems using their influencers, the only way to combat that is to fight back with a torrent of truth.

… For too long, Dems have been slow to respond to things like this and let Republicans set the narrative. Newsom is showing everyone else how to deal with that effectively - and every Democrat should learn from it. Johnson wouldn’t be crying so much about it if it wasn’t working.

… Joe Biden in his final interview as president to MSNBC: "The mistake I think I made was not getting our allies to acknowledge that ‘Democrats did this.’ So for example, call a new $1B bridge over a river 'the Democratic bridge,' figuratively speaking. Talk about who put it together. Let people know this was something Democrats did. I’m not a very good huckster. I spent too much on the policy, not enough time on the politics.”

… CNN reports that at the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington today, the 40 Republican and Democratic mayors in attendance were asked to raise their hands if they had a project in their cities that was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure law. All of them did. Too bad voters didn’t know about that.

… A major confrontation is brewing between Republicans who are budget hawks and want to massively cut spending, and the rest of them who just talk about the deficit but want to enact Trump’s agenda with tax cuts and tons of new spending for the military and migrant deportations that will explode the deficit. NOTUS is citing multiple Republicans saying they think that House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington could be an obstacle for Trump.

… Arrington made it clear he is opposed to Trump’s attempt to eliminate the debt ceiling during his presidency: “We talk about the debt being unsustainable and mortgaging our children’s future on the campaign trail. Now we have an opportunity to actually do something about it, and that makes some people uncomfortable.”

… Thomas Massie reacted to the article: “We finally get a Chairman of the Budget Committee who wants to balance the budget and they attack him.” Chip Roy, Tim Burchett and Mike Lee said they agreed with Massie.

… Apparently, Ron Desantis decided this was another opportunity to separate himself from Trump on an issue where he knows the base will agree with him, chiming in about critics of Arrington: “Swamp gonna swamp …”

… The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Tik Tok divestiture today, which everyone expected. Biden has said he won’t enforce the ban at the deadline this Sunday and leave it up to Trump. However, the reports are that the company will shut down the app on Sunday anyway.

… What I think is happening is that they will turn it off, everyone will get furious, then the next day or the day after they will turn it back on with Trump announcing that he “saved Tik Tok” and his new pal, the Chinese CEO, will give him all the credit. And it was Trump and Republicans who wanted the ban in the first place and got some Dems to sign on to it.

… Sen. Tom Cotton: “Senate Democrats attempted to extend the deadline for the ban of the Chinese Communist spy app Tik Tok. I blocked this effort because Tik Tok is a harmful app that endangers our national security and poisons our children.”

… Mike Pence: “The Supreme Court's decision upholding the law requiring TikTok to divest from the Chinese Communist Party is a victory for the privacy and security of the American people. This law was the result of a bipartisan cooperation and I commend it's authors and supporters in Congress for enacting this vital law for our national security. The CCP has been put on notice that the American people’s data is no longer for the taking. The incoming Trump administration must be prepared to uphold this TikTok divestment law and put the privacy and security of America first.”

… The incoming Trump Admin will not be doing what Pence is asking them to do. On this, and a great many things.

… Senate Majority Leader John Thune also expects Trump to enforce the TikTok ban they passed: “I would think he would, but hopefully they’ll figure out a way to get it sold.”

… Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD): “This is a big step to protect America from the China threat. I’m proud to have led the charge on this in Congress.”

… But not so fast guys! Trump to CNN after the SCOTUS decision: “It ultimately goes up to me, so you’re going to see what I’m going to do. Congress has given me the decision, so I’ll be making the decision.”

… Republicans are flip-flopping all over the place on the Tik Tok ban trying to act like they were always against it. Last year, Trump’s NSA nominee Rep. Mike Waltz said that Tik Tok was “Chinese Communist Party spyware.” Now he says “its a great platform that many Americans use and was great for Trump’s campaign.”

… Marco Rubio said in 2022: “What are we allowing Tik Tok to operate in America when we know for a fact that the CCP openly uses it to steal the data on our phones, interfere in our elections, and push their propaganda.” Rubio today: “Trump has the authority to waive it for 90 days.”

Sorry this is out late tonight, but that is only because there was just so much news today that it was hard to keep up with everything. I could have cut it early and omitted a bunch, but tomorrow is my off day until the weekend recap on Sunday night so I wanted to make sure I got as much covered from today as possible. Again, thank you to all the paid subscribers who support my work and everyone else for reading.

… Trump in a March 2023 Truth Social post: “When I wanted to disable TIKTOK 3 years ago, I was met with opposition from RINOS to Democrats to everyone else. They actually went to court in an effort to stop me. Now they realize I was right, and have changed their tune. Sadly, I’ve been right about everything!” Now apparently he was not right. Or he was right then and is now right again even though they are

opposite positions.

… Kevin McCarthy on Fox: “John Fetterman should be the leader of the Democratic Party if they ever want to win the majority again.” Kevin was ousted as Speaker by his own party and left Congress in disgrace.

… On his book tour, House Oversight Chair James Comer was asked on Newsmax if Trump should use DOJ to go after his enemies: “I hope they're held accountable. The ball is gonna be in Pam Bondi and Kash Patel's court. We're here to work with this administration, whichever direction Trump wants to go in."

… Then Comer went on Russian asset Benny Johnson’s podcast and said that since Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter only goes back to 2014, Trump’s DOJ should investigate him for crimes he may have committed in 2013, and said they should subpoena Joe in for questioning as a witness. Of course, there is something called a statute of limitations.

… Joe Biden issued what is likely to be his final round of commutations: "I am commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses who are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice. With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history."

… Most of the people who received commutations got harsher sentences for crack cocaine than powder cocaine. Stiffer sentencing for crack historically meant more prison time for black suspects than white: "Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes. As Congress recognized through the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act, it is time that we equalize these sentencing disparities."

… Biden also issued a proclamation that he is now certifying the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution after the VA legislature recently ratified it. However, this is really likely just a symbolic gesture. Congress has the authority to place time limits on ratifications. They set a deadline for March 22, 1979 for ratification, then extended that to June 30, 1982. Obviously, this is a little bit past the deadline.

… I realize that a handful of Democratic elected officials are posting that this is now part of the Constitution. You can yell at me if you want in the comments that I am wrong about this not meeting the legal criteria for a Constitutional amendment based on the expiration of the deadline to ratify decades ago. That’s you’re prerogative. I report reality, not politician spin or click baiter hopium. The National Archives certifies an Amendment - not the president. They haven’t, and they won’t. I tell the truth, even if the truth is not what people want to hear.

… GA House Speaker Jon Burns issued a statement after State Sen. Colton Moore was arrested yesterday: “The situation outside the House Chamber was incredibly unfortunate. The Senator refused to cooperate with doorkeepers and law enforcement, and created a dangerous situation where he chose to use force against our law enforcement officers.

… FL State Rep. Anthony Sabatini responded: “This piece of shit purposely violated the GA Constitution to arrest a sitting State Senator. Why? Because Colton Moore was too MAGA, too conservative. This scumbag Speaker must be removed from office ASAP.”

… Mel Gibson was asked by CBS about Trump appointing him, ‘Ambassador to Hollywood’ yesterday: “I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can. Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?” Gibson lost his house in the fires.

… Ann Coulter was ranting and raving during Kristi Noem’s confirmation hearing today: “Kristi Noem is tougher on American puppies than African immigrants. She requested African immigrants be sent to SD. Because SD didn’t have enough voodoo practitioners.”

… Coulter a few minutes later: “Noem is the dumbest nominee for the most important position.”

… Coulter a few minutes later: “Fox News is trying to help Noem by cutting coverage of her hearing. It’s only the most important cabinet position.”

… Besides immigration, Noem was asked if she would withhold disaster aid to a Democratic state if Trump told her to. She refused to answer. Didn’t want to deal with a hypothetical. Right.

… Rand Paul after the hearing to Fox: “I think there’s a good chance that she’s going to get a Democrat vote in the committee and on the floor. She will eventually be approved even if it was just with Republican votes, but I think there will be Democrat votes.”

… Indicted NYC Mayor Eric Adams met with Trump today at MAL. His office: “Mayor Adams has made quite clear his willingness to work with Trump. The mayor looks forward to having a productive conversation with the incoming president on how we can move our city and country forward.” Pretty sure Adams thinks the way to move it forward is with a pardon from Trump for Adams.

… RNC Chair Michael Whatley told Fox that his number one priority going forward is to try and convince the MAGA cult to stay Republicans and vote for Republican candidates in future elections when Trump is on the ballot, since a big chunk of them say that they only care about Trump and don’t show up for midterms: “It’s really critical for us to make sure that the Trump voters become Republican voters.”

… CNN was found liable today by a FL jury of defaming Navy veteran Zachary Young. The jury awarded Young $5 million in damages and voted that punitive damages were appropriate, which will be decided at a separate hearing.

… The case involved a report from November 2021 where chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt claimed that people were running a black market and charging exorbitant fees to Afghans who were attempting to flee their country after the Taliban took over. Jake Tapper and Jim Acosta ran the report on their shows. Young’s name and face was featured in both segments - he was the only individual identified by Marquardt.

… Although there were shady operators out there, Young was apparently not one of them and his face and name were used in the story. Young’s lawyers also presented internal communications from CNN employees which showed that they doubted that things in Marquardt’s story were true. They also introduced evidence that Marquardt called Young a “MFer” whom he hoped to “nail”.

… Richard Painter, who was the Chief WH Ethics Counsel under George W. Bush, responded to Trump’s post that he will not appoint anyone to his Admin if they worked for Republicans who criticized him: “So if I criticize the President, the White House won't hire anyone who works with me, who co-authors with me, or who has anything to do with me?” Yes, that’s what he said. He sounds surprised.

… Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) walked by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) as he was speaking to the press and called him a “sexy man.” Moskowitz responded: “Love is love.”

… Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has been on a crusade to get delivery companies like Uber, Door Dash and GrubHub to use a third party operator to identify and deny employment to migrants. She posted this update: “I am pleased to learn that Uber has reached out to my office to inform us that they finally updated their policy and brought in a third party identification system to crack down on illegals acting as couriers on their platform.”

… All signs pointing to Marsha running for governor of TN in 2026.

… Melania Trump met with Queen Rania of Jordan yesterday. Not sure why.

… Republicans got enough votes (61) to overcome the filibuster in the Senate to pass the Laken Riley Act. No surprise that the Dems who voted for it are from swing states: Cortez-Masto (NV), Gallego (AZ), Hassan (NH), Kelly (AZ), Ossoff (GA), Peters (MI), Slotkin (MI), Shaheen (NH), and Warner (VA).

… NBC is reporting that Rep. Byron Donalds will run for Governor of FL. He was very outspoken in supporting Trump over Desantis in the primary. I would not be surprised to see Desantis openly and aggressively support someone else against Donalds.

… Don Jr (of all people) broke the news today that daddy is firing the Secret Service Director and replacing him with Sean Curran, who has been the head of Trump’s personal detail at MAL: “Sean is a great patriot and will stop all the insanity once and for all.”

… Democratic Governor and rising star Andy Beshear won reelection by 5 points in 2023 despite the fact that Trump won Kentucky by 31 points. A poll now shows his most recent approval rating in that heavily Republican state: 65% Approve, 27% Disapprove.

… Those numbers are nearly impossible to achieve even for a governor in a state that is dominated by their own party. Beshear is doing this in a ruby red state where the Senators are Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. People need to talk more about Andy Beshear for 2028. I like a lot of potential candidates, but he needs to be in the conversation. For someone’s VP at the very least.

POLITICO Nightly: Donald Trump’s first big spectacle

By Tyler Weyant

Members of the U.S. military rehearse at the Capitol ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

SHOWMAN IN CHIEF — Formal balls. Musical performances. Lots of red, white and blue. The parade at Monday’s inauguration of Donald Trump will now take place indoors due to the frigid weather, but all of it will remain a spectacle, a celebration of all things American.

But if you think that will be a show, you haven’t seen anything yet. The inauguration is merely the first in a four-year cavalcade of oversized events that seem tailor-made for the 47th president’s style.

The list of big-time events that will take place on Trump’s watch is formidable: There is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — the U.S. Semiquincentennial celebration of the nation’s birthday next year. The 2026 World Cup. The 2028 Olympics. (And, on a more somber note, the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.)

These huge memorials, celebrations and entertainment events, starting with the Lexington and Concord anniversary of “the shot heard ‘round the world ” in April, represent a chance for Trump to engage in one of the parts of being president he seemed to relish in his first administration: The pageantry of America and patriotism. And he’s more than aware of the opportunity; he recently spoke about how he’s looking forward to the various displays of pageantry.

Trump tried his hardest to craft such events in his first term. After enjoying a military display in France for Bastille Day in 2017, Trump attempted to stage large parades and celebrations in Washington, complete with an array of heavy equipment. But while the “Salute to America” event did happen in 2019, complete with the Blue Angels and other military aircraft, the tanks he had requested were not able to go down Pennsylvania Avenue, due to concerns about damage to local infrastructure.

Still, that was small ball compared to the massive scale of a round-numbered national birthday or the world’s two largest sporting events. Consider America’s upcoming 250th birthday next year: Trump has already revealed parts of his plan for the yearlong event, including a task force to help coordinate a year of celebration that he wants to start this Memorial Day, a “Great American State Fair” in Iowa, sporting contests called “Patriot Games” for high school athletes, and the return of the National Garden of American Heroes that he pitched in his first term.

The World Cup — the most watched sporting competition on the planet — will take place across 11 American cities across the span of a month. And the Olympics, while taking place in Los Angeles, will unfold across California (and even in Oklahoma for softball and canoe slalom). Taken together, these events, coming so quickly one after the other, will be nationwide productions on a scale the country has not seen in some time.

And Trump, a man who delights in extravaganzas of any kind, will be president during them all. For proof, just look to his personnel announcements for the upcoming term. High up in his announcement of Joe Popolo as his pick for ambassador to the Netherlands, Trump noted that “he helped transform the Freeman Company into the World’s leading live event brand experience company.” His next-to-last Truth Social post of 2024 was a salute to Justin Caporale, who helped produce events such as the Madison Square Garden rally and the viral McDonald’s and trash truck moments from the campaign and will take an external role in producing further events post-inauguration. And of course, Mark Burnett’s role as special envoy to the UK came complete with references to his work producing the television hits “Survivor” and “The Apprentice.”

Even this week, Trump tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as what he called special ambassadors to Hollywood, vowing to make the movie capital “bigger, better and stronger.”

These events will have meaning that goes beyond high production values. They will be cultural touchstones for a country whose residents claim they are quite tired of division. They will be national events that stretch across regions, pop culture phenomena that will spur viral moments and merch and memes. And with Trump in the White House, we can expect a dose of Trumpism in all of them.

Whoever won the 2024 election was going to be the presiding head of state for a four-year period when the world was watching America closer than ever. Now that it is Donald Trump, we have a president who basks in the spotlight and knows the world of event production perhaps better than any of his predecessors. We’re likely in for one hell of a show. Are you not entertained enough yet? Imagine if we go back to the moon .

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at tweyant@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @tweyant .

What'd I Miss?

— Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban: The Supreme Court upheld a law that forces the sale of TikTok today, leaving the video-sharing app to be banned in the U.S. in two days if no deal is struck. Siding with the government, the justices upheld a lower court ruling that Congress did not violate the First Amendment when it passed the sell-or-ban law last year on national security grounds. The court also declined to stave off the impending deadline for the sale of TikTok. Starting Sunday, if the company is not sold, app stores and cloud providers who continue to host it could face billions of dollars in fines. Still, it is unclear if the ban will be implemented right away. A White House official indicated President Joe Biden will not enforce the ban, and President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to “save” TikTok.

— Inauguration to move indoors amid dangerously cold temperatures: Donald Trump and JD Vance will be sworn in to office inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday — instead of outside the Capitol — as Washington, D.C. braces for dangerously cold temperatures, the president-elect posted on Truth Social. The entire inauguration ceremony, including prayers and speeches, will move indoors. The last time cold weather scuttled the outdoor inauguration ceremony was in 1985 when Ronald Reagan was sworn into his second term. James Monroe’s second inauguration was also held inside the Capitol, in the House chamber, because of a snowstorm.

— DeWine passes over Ramaswamy, will select Jon Husted for Senate: Gov. Mike DeWine has selected his own Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to become the next senator from Ohio , passing over entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Husted, a Republican more in DeWine’s institutionalist mold, had long planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. His ascent to the Senate will likely scramble the field in that race. Ramaswamy learned mid-morning today he would not be the pick, according to a person familiar with the discussion and granted anonymity to describe it.

THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION

HO-HUM MORNING — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem underwent more than three hours of polite questioning from Democrats and praise from Republicans during her confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of Homeland Security today.

In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Noem committed to working with President-elect Donald Trump to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico policy,” an initiative from the first Trump administration that required those seeking asylum in the United States to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed.

She also pledged to shut down the Biden administration’s mobile phone application called CBP One, which migrants can use to set up appointments to seek asylum, and end the Cuban Haitian Nicaragua Venezuela parole program. Both are initiatives immigration hardliners see are too permissive.

EARLY RETIREMENT — IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel announced he will step down on Monday as the new Trump administration comes into power. Though he still has a couple years left on his term, Werfel is making way for former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), whom Trump has nominated to replace him.

Werfel’s decision comes even as tax-filing season is set to begin later this month, and though Long appears to have some time before his nomination comes before lawmakers. In the interim, Werfel’s deputy, Doug O’Donnell, will run the agency.

AROUND THE WORLD

Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Folsom, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 17, 2024. | Matt Rourke/AP

LOOKING UNDER THE HOOD — EU tech regulators are deepening their investigation of Elon Musk’s X after his repeated attacks on European governments, just days before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president.

The European Commission announced today it would add new steps to an investigation that kicked off in December 2023. That probe turned politically contentious as Musk, who will take a key role in the incoming Trump administration, sided with European far-right parties, such as the German Alternative for Germany ahead of an election on Feb. 23.

Brussels faced pressure to investigate Musk’s compliance with EU social media law, the Digital Services Act, especially regarding a live-streamed chat Musk had with AfD leader Alice Weidel on Jan. 9.

NEW ERA — The European Union and Mexico wrapped up talks today to overhaul their trade agreement , strengthening a partnership that is crucial for European automakers three days before Donald Trump, who campaigned on a protectionist ticket, is due to be sworn in as U.S. president.

The announcement represents a pre-emptive move to link arms after Trump threatened to hit U.S. neighbors Mexico and Canada with tariffs of 25 percent on taking office. The EU meanwhile faces U.S. tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent — with analysts saying its car industry is at particular risk.

The modernization of the “global agreement” between the 27-nation bloc and Mexico will expand opportunities in services, strengthen supply chains and bolster investment protections, the European Commission said in a statement after talks between EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič and Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

Nightly Number

$1.9 trillion

The size the U.S. deficit will swell to in 2025 , according to Capitol Hill’s nonpartisan budget scorekeeper’s analysis published today.

RADAR SWEEP

FAREWELL, TIKTOK — As TikTok prepares to come to a close, users are spending the final days posting sarcastic goodbyes to the fictional Chinese spies monitoring it and clapping back at the government that banned it. That’s because over the course of its existence, TikTok has become more than a social platform where people dance and lip sync. It’s morphed into a powerhouse for producing and showcasing American culture, from memes, fashion trends, news, music, and community. For WIRED, Megan Farokhmanesh reports that American users aren’t convinced of the threat TikTok allegedly poses when “everybody” has their data.

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