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, Meet the Press researcher and co-creator Juhi Doshi explores how a wave of anti-establishment forces has spread far beyond Washington in recent months. Additionally, senior national political reporter Natasha Koleki examines how Kamala Harris handled the election certification role. And our Captio Hill team looks ahead to the obstacles that await Donald Trump’s agenda in Congress.
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Republicans take control of Washington amid global anti-incumbency wave
Written by Toka Doshi
As the newly sworn-in Republican Congress formally certified Donald Trump’s election victory on Monday, it’s worth taking a look at the state of the world. Last year, voters around the world delivered a scathing rebuke to incumbent and traditional parties on both the right and the left. Bad feelings about inflation, deepening cultural divisions, international conflicts, dissatisfaction with the status quo and political elites.
In fact, incumbent parties lost almost all Western elections in 2024. And heading into 2025, German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz lost a no-confidence vote in mid-December, setting the stage for next month’s general election, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces internal conflict within his own party. facing. The rebel announced on Monday that he would step down as prime minister and Liberal Party leader ahead of the 2025 election.
This trend transcended ideological and continental boundaries. In Britain, the Conservative Party ended its 14-year reign with its worst electoral defeat since 1832. Botswana’s Democratic Party lost power in a dramatic defeat for the first time in nearly 60 years. In South Korea, voters gave the opposition Democratic Party a majority in the National Assembly, seen as a check on President Yun Seok-yeol of the People’s Power Party.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party were in power but were forced to form a coalition government. In France, President Emmanuel Macron and his centrist Alliance Ensemble stalled, pushed by both the left-wing New Popular Front and the right-wing National Rally.
And in the United States, the incumbent political party has been defeated in the presidential election for three consecutive years. This is the first time this has happened since the 19th century.
“I think Kamala Harris was seen as part of the establishment,” said Basil Smickle Jr., a Democratic strategist and Columbia University professor. “Many young voters thought she was connected to all the issues they saw in the party.”
A series of Pew Research Center surveys has found that majorities in many countries believe that elected officials don’t care what people like them think, and that no political party cares about what they think. It turned out that opinions were not well represented.
“In many countries, senior figures say, “I don’t feel like I have a voice in politics.” So in many ways, people are not allowing expression to function as it should. “We don’t feel like we’re there,” said Richard Weick, director of global attitudes research at Pew.
A big force behind the trend: Economic challenges are a consistent theme globally, with 64% of adults saying they feel their finances are I found out that the answer is bad. In the countries surveyed (France, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, and the United Kingdom) where elections will be held in 2024, more than 70% held this view.
Jim Messina, who served as President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign manager and also worked for the British Conservative Party, pointed out how difficult it is to overcome voter anger about the economy.
“President Obama said to me over and over again, ‘We have to win against the centrists,’ ‘We have to win on the economic debate,'” Messina said. “And in the economic debate, the Democratic Party, or Kamala Harris, lost by almost 10 points. And if you lose the economic debate, you can’t win a democratic election or a presidential election in the United States.”
Harris oversees drama-free January 6 certification of Trump’s victory
Written by Natasha Koleki
Upon entering the Senate chamber on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked by NBC News about presiding over the certification of the 2024 election and issued a terse declaration: “Democracy will prevail.”
Minutes later, Harris was done, leading Congress’s collective support for the electoral votes she lost and affirming Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Harris’ message on January 6 was one that her predecessor, President Joe Biden, had repeatedly conveyed to voters on the campaign trail. They advocated “freedom” and democracy and shunned the events of January 6, 2021, when the U.S. Capitol was violently stormed by Trump supporters in an unprecedented attack.
On this day, compared to four years ago, there were no gallows or nooses set up outside the Capitol grounds. Or the chant supporting the hanging of the vice president who did not reject the will of the people and the true results of the election. Instead, the event proceeded as scheduled and took 30 minutes.
Ultimately, American voters rejected Harris, leading to Trump’s promise to disrupt the status quo. Unlike Trump, who refused to accept the 2020 results, Harris acknowledged her defeat the day after the election and sought to offer words of comfort to her supporters.
After being certified Monday, Harris said: Otherwise, it will become very fragile and will not be able to withstand moments of crisis. And today, American democracy has risen. ”
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Pardon Politics: Meanwhile, details of President Trump’s plan to pardon defendants on January 6, 2021, when he takes office in two weeks, remain unclear, Ryan J. Reilly reports. More than 1,580 defendants have been charged and about 1,270 people have been convicted in the massive investigation that has resulted in more than 660 prison sentences, according to statistics released Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Ta.
Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, who is serving 22 years in federal prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the Capitol attack, asked President Trump on Monday for a pardon.
Prime Minister Johnson’s push to pass President Trump’s agenda in one giant bill faces major hurdles
Written by Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong, and Julie Tsilkin
House Speaker Mike Johnson has a very ambitious strategy to answer Donald Trump’s call to pass his agenda in “one big, beautiful bill.” The bill plans to test the limits of his razor-thin Republican majority.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that the party-line bill would include provisions on border security, energy, manufacturing and taxation. They called for the bill to extend the debt ceiling and pass it in the House as early as the first week of April.
Republicans plan to use the budget “reconciliation” process to pass the massive package. That would give Republicans 53 seats and avoid the 60-vote threshold in the Senate that could lock Democrats out of the process.
Key senators, including Majority Leader John Thune, are splitting the bill into two bills to give Republicans a quick win on border funding and time to craft a second tax bill. I’m asking you to split it up.
But Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump have said they prefer a single package.
“The plan in the House was one bill. We met for two days over the weekend, we debated for two full days, and we strategized with that in mind. And that’s our assumption at this point. ,” Johnson told reporters on Monday. “The Senate has a slightly different opinion and perspective than the House about reconciliation and what the wisest strategy is. That’s okay, that’s part of this process.”
“We intend to accomplish this mission,” Johnson said.
House and Senate Republicans will vote on a series of immigration and border security bills in the coming weeks to appease lawmakers and Trump allies who want immediate action on the border, according to two people familiar with the plans. It is said that he plans to put it on.
“We have six months to a year to show the American people that we are going to make a difference,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana). “So whether you do it on one bill or two bills, frankly, I can teach it in the round or flat. There are pros and cons to both.”
Read more →
🗞️ Today’s Top News
☀️ DC→MAL: President Trump invited a group of House Republicans, including members and committee chairs of the Caucus Freedom Caucus, to Mar-a-Lago this weekend to discuss the party’s legislative agenda. Continue reading → ⚖️ In court: A New York judge has denied President Trump’s request to delay sentencing in a hush money case scheduled for Friday. Continue reading → ⚖️ In court, continued: New York federal judge says Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani won’t comply with order to turn over assets and financial information to two disgraced former Georgia election officials He was found to be in contempt of court. . Continue reading → 👋 Goodbye, goodbye: Biden is scheduled to give two major speeches before leaving office, one on foreign policy and the other as a farewell address. Continue reading → 🌊 Drilling: With just two weeks left in his term, Biden also moved to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the U.S. coastline. Read more → ✅ Omentum? Four current and former Black members of Congress have endorsed former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley for Democratic National Committee chairman. Continue reading → 🎩 Obsessed with Honest Abe: Trump has a constant fascination with Abraham Lincoln, claiming he could have beaten him in the election and would have found a way to avoid the Civil War. Read more →
That’s all from the political desk for now. Today’s newsletter was edited by Adam Wallner, Scott Brand, and Bridget Bowman.
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