TRUMP REGIME

Political Wire -  “Donald Trump’s transition team is planning for all cabinet picks to receive sweeping security clearances from the president-elect and only face FBI background checks after the incoming administration takes over the bureau and its own officials are installed in key positions,” The Guardian reports. “The move appears to mean that Trump’s team will continue to skirt FBI vetting and may not receive classified briefings until Trump is sworn in on 20 January and unilaterally grant sweeping security clearances across the administration.”

Guardian - Two-thirds of Americans think Donald Trump’s tariff plans will only add to rising costs if implemented, and many are planning purchases ahead of his inauguration anticipating higher prices, according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian.

Daily Kos -  Rural America has been the foundation of MAGA Republican support. In 2024, Trump won rural voters by an overwhelming margin of 64% to 32% over Harris. Moreover, Trump won over 77% of the popular vote, on average, in the nation’s most farming dependent counties. Trump’s loyal supporters in the nation’s farm belt are (justifiably) worried that Trump is going to badly damage their $1.5 trillion industry. His extreme deportation plan is causing widespread panic among farmers at risk of losing workers and business. Agricultural output will decline between $30 and $60 billion if Trump’s signature deportation policy is carried out.

The soybean and grain dependent Midwest is especially at risk, since this part of the country needs the federal government’s program that allows certain companies to bring foreign workers into the U.S. to fill temporary agriculture jobs. The forced removal of immigrant farm workers will badly hurt Nebraska. 

Axios - President-elect Trump has plucked several officials straight from the pages of Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation-backed blueprint he claimed to know nothing about, Axios' Avery Lotz writes. The 900+-page document laid out plans to dramatically expand executive power and implement hardline conservative policies.

Most recently, Trump nominated Russ Vought, an architect of Project 2025, to return as director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was at least the fifth Project 2025 contributor Trump has picked for a top job. Keep reading.

Time -  President-elect Donald Trump threatened on Monday to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders. The tariffs, if implemented, could dramatically raise prices for American consumers on everything from gas to automobiles to agricultural products. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.

CNN - Most mainstream economists believe tariffs will be inflationary and could cost the typical US household over $2,600 a year.

National Memo -The Hill's Alexander Bolton, in an article published on November 25, reports that GOP senators are becoming increasingly uneasy over the sexual misconduct allegations against nominees for Trump's incoming administration."Republican senators are squirming over the rash of sexual misconduct allegations against President-elect Trump’s Cabinet picks, which they fear will become a focal point of Senate confirmation hearings next year," Bolton explains. "Senate Republicans expressed relief Thursday when former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration to serve as attorney general amid allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use."

Bolton continues, "But GOP lawmakers are already warning that Trump's other controversial nominees, including Pete Hegseth, who has been tapped to head the Defense Department; Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is slated to head the Department of Health and Human Services; and Linda McMahon, who would lead the Department of Education, will also face tough questions related to allegations of sexual misconduct or enabling sexual abuse."

A GOP senator, interviewed on condition of anonymity, stressed that senators must be given a chance to thoroughly vet Trump's nominees. The senator told The Hill, "That's why the Constitution matters. It gives us the chance to advise and consent. We just need to make sure we do our jobs. A president should have some level of deference to who he or she wants in positions that surround them but that doesn't mean it's a free card. It doesn't mean there's nothing we’re supposed to do."