Welcome to the online edition of From the Politics Desk, an evening email that provides you with the most recent coverage and commentary from the campaign trail, Capitol Hill, and the White House by the NBC News Politics team.
We look at how President-elect Donald Trump is appointing people who lost recent high-profile elections to his potential administration in today’s show. Chuck Todd, chief political analyst, also examines the similarities between the political environment of the late 1800s and the present.
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Breaking:Just when leaders of both parties were hoping to enact a bipartisan government financing agreement, President-elect Donald Trump declared he opposed it, causing turmoil.Continue reading
Losing candidates find landing spots in the Trump administration
By Sahil Kapur and Matt Dixon
President-elect Donald Trump is selecting a number of devoted supporters for high-profile federal government positions after they lost elections to Democrats in the past, often in part because of their connections to Trump.
The selections consist of:
- Two former Georgia senators who lost their races in 2020 after promoting Trump s false claims that he won that election. David Perdue, who went on to lose the 2022 primary for governor while echoing Trump s election denial, is tapped to be ambassador to China. Kelly Loeffler has been picked to lead the Small Business Administration.
- Doug Collins, the pro-Trump former congressman who lost a Georgia jungle primary to Loeffler in 2020, has been tapped to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Trump s handpicked Georgia Senate candidate in 2022, former football player
Herschel Walker
, was tapped to be ambassador to the Bahamas. Walker ran as a MAGA prot g and lost, but he has remained a steadfast supporter of Trump.
- Mehmet Oz, the doctor and TV personality whom Trump elevated to run for Senate in Pennsylvania two years ago, has been selected to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- Kari Lake, the Trump ally who lost races in Arizona for governor in 2022 and for Senate in 2024, has been chosen to run Voice of America, an international news broadcaster backed by U.S. funding.
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Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore. who lost re-election to a Democrat who linked her to Trump and derisively
told voters
she was standing by her man was chosen for labor secretary.
- Lee Zeldin, the Trump-aligned former New York congressman who lost his race for governor in 2022, has been selected to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
One word sums up Trump’s guiding principle when making these selections: loyalty.
Hard stop, he values loyalty. Sometimes more than anything else. According to a Trump friend with knowledge of the transition process, “we were not surprised by anyone you mentioned being picked.” In addition to being well-suited for the roles for which they are nominated, they have demonstrated a strong commitment to President Trump. He wants people he knows he can trust in order to alter Washington.
Proven supporters are strengthened by Trump’s decisions to elevate those figures, but there is a catch: many who ventured to oppose Trump have been shut out or ignored.
Among them are Mike Pompeo, who was Trump’s secretary of state but is now seen as disloyal by many in the MAGA movement, and Nikki Haley, who was the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the UN during his first term and later ran against him for the Republican presidential nomination.
Continue reading
The next great reform movement is poised to begin now
The calendar year started with an 18 the last time the US had three consecutive one-term presidents.
In fact, counting Grover Cleveland’s two nonconsecutive terms, America had five consecutive one-term presidents between Ulysses Grant and William McKinley.
Every election at that time was extremely tight and basically focused on determining which party could unite the nation and advance it following the Civil War. Furthermore, the nation’s mood and frustration in the late 1800s appear to be similar to those in the early 2000s, despite the fact that the controversial topics of that age were distinct from those of this one.
For instance, the issue of wealth inequality or simply, the idea that the system is rigged for the wealthy was a belief back then (think Gilded Age), and it s certainly a mainstream belief today. There s a strong argument that we are in a new Gilded Age now, with the enormous wealth being accumulated and created in this period of tech-driven transformation. The gap between the rich and poor has never seemed more vast.
Ultimately, though, that period of political instability and frustration triggered a movement to reform the country s political system. With the turn of the century came what is now known as the Progressive Era. In a 30-year span, the public demanded more from its government, including things we take for granted today, such as guaranteeing food safety and worker safety. This was when urban areas instituted regular trash pickup, which was then seen as a public health issue. The modern day environmental movement also took hold then, with a focus on preservation and conservation, as well as basic beautification efforts, including building parks and other shared spaces.
On the political side, this era delivered women the right to vote, the direct election of senators and the addition of more rigorous government oversight of the economy, which led to the first big breakup of corporate monopolies.
There s no question in my mind that the public would like to see a period of true reform and modernization of our public institutions. It’s reasonable to assume that, just as the polarization and inequality of the Gilded Age led to the Progressive Era of the early 20th century, the current Gilded Age may lead to something akin to that. This is especially true given the way our politics seem to be echoing—or at least rhyming with—the latter half of the 19th century.
Read more from Chuck
Today s top stories
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Opening the flood Gaetz:
The House Ethics Committee has voted to publicly release a report on its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and could do so as soon as this week.Read more
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From American carnage to unity?
Trump has said he wants to focus his inaugural address on unity, but what that means in practice is, for now, anyone’s guess.Read more
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Culture wars:
The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a ban on coverage of gender-affirming care for the transgender children of military service members.Read more
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Another cut:
The Federal Reserve announced a quarter-point interest rate cut, the central bank s third cut of the year.Read more
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TikTok on the clock:
The Supreme Court agreed to take up an appeal from TikTok challenging a federal law that could ban the app.Read more
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Abortion back at the court:
The Supreme Court also took up a case involving South Carolina s attempt to prevent Planned Parenthood from participating in the Medicaid health program.Read more
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Eyes on Cheney:
A GOP-led House subcommittee released an interim report suggesting that the FBI should investigate former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., for her work with the House Jan. 6 committee.Read more
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In the red:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing a $230 million budget shortfall even before Trump ramps up his plans for a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.Read more
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Sunshine State clash:
State leaders in Florida are continuing to clash with federal officials over investigating a September attempt to assassinate Trump.Read more
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Biden weighs in:
President Joe Biden weighed in on the mysterious drone sightings in the northeast, saying there is nothing nefarious, apparently.Read more
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