What to watch in President Trump’s first week: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online edition of From the Politics Desk, our evening newsletter that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News political team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s issue, we take a closer look at the president’s final days in office and the legacy he left behind. Regarding the president-elect, the team lays out important storylines to watch after Monday’s inauguration. And with a TikTok ban looming this weekend, some in Washington are changing their minds about the app’s future.

— Adam Wollner

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What to watch in President Trump’s first week

There are less than 72 hours left until Donald Trump’s second oath of office. Mother Nature is already doing her part. President Trump announced that the inauguration ceremony would be moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda due to frigid weather forecast for Washington.

(PS: The last time a ceremony was held indoors was President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985, when the temperature was 7 degrees.)

Regardless of where it takes place, Trump will have a long to-do list and a series of challenges ahead of him as the 47th president.

There’s a lot to sort out, so we asked our NBC News colleagues what they’ll be watching for in Trump’s first week back in the White House.

Here’s what they said:

Kelly O’Donnell: For Trump, his return to the presidency marks a fresh start to his second term. He will be both new and familiar, wielding the power to sign executive orders on a variety of core issues, including border security and deportation, while also using his pen to issue pardons.

I expect him to use the administration’s megaphone to reinforce his view of the broad powers granted by the November vote. The challenge is that the expectations of his supporters are high, and external events such as the California fires and foreign conflicts demand his attention. After years on the campaign trail, he faces the daily burden of delivering on promises and needs while responding to a crisis.

Peter Alexander: Beyond the executive order and his promise to begin mass deportations on day one, I’m going to look at Trump’s tone. His speech at the Republican National Convention last summer began with a unifying message, but quickly degenerated. He also promised his inaugural address would be a rallying cry. But eight years after his “American carnage” speech, we will only hear his tone minutes after he takes office.

Kristen Welker: We’ll be watching to see how the Ukraine war plays out. One of Trump’s most ambitious campaign promises early in his administration was to end the war. He told me in December that he was actively working on that effort. But President Trump just recently said he thought six months was a realistic timeline and that it would be inappropriate to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue ahead of Inauguration Day. So will there be any progress in the first week?

ANDREA MITCHELL: The Middle East will also be a major foreign policy hotspot in the first week of the Trump presidency. One question is whether the Gaza ceasefire will hold, especially since the release of American hostages is not scheduled until at least the second week of the agreement. A related issue is whether the United States will be able to grant a two-month extension to the ceasefire in Lebanon, which expires at the end of next week. And President Trump will have to decide whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, as he has indicated in the past, despite the renewed threat of an ISIS resurgence in the country following the fall of Assad.

Garrett Haack: President Trump and Congressional Republicans have gone to great lengths to make it seem like they’re always singing the same hymn in the new year. But December’s debt and spending debacle highlights how fragile city-to-city coordination among Republican-controlled branches actually is. The first week of the Trump presidency will be well-staged on Capitol Hill, but minorities are wondering how much more will be spent on the tension between President Trump’s big-ticket promises, rising debt, and pledges to cut costs from outside forces from DOGE. Can you withstand it? And what will Trump do when all these priorities start to conflict?

Vaughn Hillard: Speaking of DOGE, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has had an unparalleled and strong relationship with the president-elect, but President Trump has so far had a close relationship with his aides, cabinet members (and even his vice president). have felt uncomfortable about having themselves singled out.

Will his grand plan to overturn Washington’s governing machinations come to fruition? He has already backed away from a pledge to cut the annual federal budget by one-third, and the resulting reorganization of federal departments would require significant approval from lawmakers. Is this a dynamic that creates lasting change, or will the pressures of commitment lead to the breakdown of this relationship?

🗣️ Swing Voter Opinions: We also spoke to 18 voters who didn’t support Trump in 2020 but did back Trump last November. Although the public generally has high expectations for the next government, some are skeptical about whether he will be able to fulfill his promises. Read more →

Supreme Court ruling prompts some leaders in Washington to reverse TikTok ban

Written by Scott Wong and Sahil Kapur

In the midst of a fierce presidential campaign last year, Democratic and Republican lawmakers came together to pass a bill that could lead to a ban on the popular social media app TikTok in the United States. President Joe Biden signed it into law with little opposition.

Now, with the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the law on Friday and the TikTok ban set to go into effect on Sunday, neither party can take credit for the bipartisan legislative victory. I don’t want to.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said enforcement of the TikTok law “should be up to the next administration.” And Congressional leaders who have defended the law are now hesitant to call for the ban to begin Sunday. Instead, it said it wanted a delay to give TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance more time to sell the app to U.S. buyers.

“The TikTok ban is scheduled to go into effect this weekend, and we know a lot is up in the air,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Friday in response to the court’s ruling. I mentioned it earlier.

“But everyone, including the Biden administration, the incoming Trump administration, and even the Supreme Court, should continue to work to find a way to get a U.S. buyer for TikTok, so that the app can be freed from Chinese influence and control. Please support the Communist Party and continue on TikTok. This will protect the jobs of millions of creators. ”

During his first term as president, Trump tried to ban TikTok, citing national security concerns. But last month, he said there was now a “warm place” on TikTok, met with CEO Shou Chu, whom he invited to his inauguration, and asked the Supreme Court to halt enforcement of the TikTok ban. Try to negotiate a deal.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, President Trump said TikTok was one of the topics he discussed on the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier in the day.

Read more about Scott and Sahil →

After 50 years in public life, Biden’s career comes to an ignominious end

Natasha Korecki, Carol E. Lee, and Jonathan Allen delve into President Joe Biden’s final weeks in the White House in this must-read book. He initially took office with a pledge to unite the country, strengthen the party and defend democracy. But he has left a nation divided, political parties in tatters, and Americans questioning the self-proclaimed institutionalists’ respect for the rule of law.

Below are some highlights.

A person with direct knowledge of Biden’s comments said that after the November election, Biden had privately considered the idea of ​​pardoning Donald Trump as a clemency measure, but it was unclear whether he was seriously considering it. It is said that Biden plans to write another book. The White House has a “morgue-like” atmosphere, according to a person who recently met with White House officials. In private, Biden reflects on his accomplishments and oscillates from melancholy to resignation to anger to melancholy, two people close to Biden said. Biden has not spoken to his former top adviser, Anita Dunn, in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. dynamic. Biden’s relationship with Bob Bauer, Dunn’s married partner and longtime personal attorney, has also deteriorated. Bauer will no longer represent Biden after he leaves office, according to three people familiar with the decision.

Read the full story →

More on Biden’s final days in office:

Biden now has the most individual pardons and commutations in history, with new pardons for non-violent drug offenders. Biden said in an interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that “red states were really messed up” with the way they handled the economy during this time. The year of the Covid pandemic.

That’s all from the political desk for now. Today’s newsletter was edited by Adam Wolner and Faith Wardwell.

If you have any feedback, love it or hate it, email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com.

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