One of the biggest forces that contributed to President Trump's defeat in 2020 also helped propel him to the White House in 2024.

Why it matters: The pandemic pushed voters — from young men to suburban parents — to the right, fueling Trump's decisive victory and raising questions about Democrats' ability to hold onto once-reliable blocs.

Catch up quick: Covid was a top issue in 2020 exit polls, with 52% of voters saying controlling the virus itself was more important than rebuilding the post-pandemic economy.

• That mindset shifted over the next four years, as closed schools, inflation and isolation frustrated voters — and changed many of their votes.

"Younger voters are in the process of understanding who they are and what their values are, and that was disproportionately shaped by Covid," says John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. "It intensified economic anxiety and created this survivalist mindset."

• "Democrats helped create this vacuum, which was filled by Trump and Trump-aligned podcasters and influencers."

Case in point: In 2020, voters under 30 broke for Joe Biden by 24 points, but in 2020, Kamala Harris only won the youth vote by 4 points, The Atlantic reports.

And many parents in deep blue cities and towns flipped their politics after seeing the effect of school closures and Covid isolation on their kids.

• When schools shut down, "I was always deeply concerned that the tradeoff for children would be grave," says Natalya Murakhver, a Manhattan mom, who organized the parent-led lawsuit to fully reopen New York City schools. "You cannot stop growing up, and growing up entails the social relationships that can only be had in a physical space."
• Murakhver says she voted for Democrats her entire adult life, including for President Biden in 2020, but cast her ballot for Trump in 2024. For her, the turning point was when the Biden administration started walking back its pledge to reopen schools within its first 100 days.

Zoom out: Some experts saw this coming. Pandemics corrode citizens' faith in government — especially, and not surprisingly, among impressionable young people.

• Those who experience these events from the ages of 18 to 25 are more likely to develop a lasting lack of trust in political institutions and leaders, according to a study from the Systemic Risk Center at the London School of Economics.
• "You can think of epidemics as somewhat of a stress test for governments. Leaders have to respond fast and with the right policies," says Orkun Saka, the study's author. "There is almost no way to get it completely right. When you get it especially wrong, there is a deep scar in the eyes of the young generation."

The bottom line: Five years on, pandemic-era policies have ended, but the economic pain and divisions triggered by Covid linger and continue to influence politics.

• "I'm still a registered Democrat," Murakhver says. "But I feel party-less, which probably is a healthy place to be."

Most young Americans have been keeping up with Elon Musk’s DOGE — and it’s not too popular.

The big picture: 87% of 18- to 34-year-olds say they’ve heard a lot or a little about DOGE. And 71% say they strongly or somewhat disapprove of the agency’s work so far, according to a new Axios-Generation Lab youth poll.

• 69% strongly or somewhat disapprove of President Trump’s job performance.

Between the lines: The overall numbers show low approval for Trump and DOGE, but there's a partisan split. There's a great deal of support for both the president and the agency among young Republican respondents.

• 81% who say they're Republican strongly or somewhat approve of Trump, compared with just 10% of Democrats and 29% of Independents.
• 68% of young Republicans approve of DOGE’s work, compared with 9% of Democrats and 29% of Independents.

Methodology: This poll was conducted Feb. 21-28 from a representative sample of 972 18- to 34-year-olds nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Colleges have been a conservative target for years. Under President Trump, it's total warfare on all aspects of higher education — from student life to hiring to athletics.

Why it matters: Universities are scrambling to steel themselves for an onslaught of investigations. Even if some cuts are undone by future administrations or some directives don't hold up in the courts, many colleges are rushing to make changes they won't be able to undo easily.

• "The federal government is coming for higher education," says Jeremy Young, the Freedom to Learn program director for PEN America. "And if you are one of America's 4,000 college presidents, and you stick your neck out, it's going to get cut off."

Driving the news: In a letter to schools last month, the Education Department said they could lose funding if they have policies related to race and diversity. And though the letter doesn't have the force of law, many institutions are acting quickly to comply — with moves big and small.

• Colorado State University is shifting employee roles, tweaking HR policies and scrubbing websites, Axios Denver's Alayna Alvarez reports.
• The University of Pennsylvania has edited websites — or removed them altogether, notes Axios Philadelphia's Mike D'Onofrio. Penn's medical school is looking at cutting programs that help diversify its student body, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
• The Ohio State University is shutting down two campus offices focused on DEI and cutting more than a dozen staff positions. It's renaming the Office of Institutional Equity to the Office of Civil Rights Compliance.
• Several colleges had already started cutting programs, shuttering cultural centers and changing up course catalogs even before Trump took office — either to prepare for the administration's changes, or in response to state-level action.

Zoom out: DEI is making headlines, but the chaos is wider.

• Stanford, MIT, Columbia and Vanderbilt are already freezing hiring or cutting back on the number of Ph.D. students they'll accept as they hear of DOGE's proposed cuts to federal medical research.
• Universities are also working to comply with the NCAA's new ban on trans athletes.
• Many are fielding investigations over former trans athletes that competed on their teams, or responses to pro-Palestinian protests on campus. And the Justice Department is sending an antisemitism task force to several campuses.

Changes are likely to last: "Once a college closes a DEI office, once it shuts down a research program, once it censors a syllabus, these things are not coming back," says Pen America's Young. "The political will is not there to bring them back on a college campus."

What to watch: Some colleges are waiting and seeing which policy changes stick.

• Drexel University is holding off on changes as it monitors the situation, Axios Philadelphia reports.
• Western Michigan University's president told his campus to "please process as usual."
• University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor Justin Schwartz said he'll "only change operations if and when we have to."

Two primary targets of President Trump's executive orders have been transgender Americans and undocumented immigrants, deepening a climate of fear for both groups.

The big picture: Life is already changing for members of both communities, in ways big and small — with bigger changes likely coming.

• "The messaging is, 'It's okay to discriminate against transgender people,'" says Corinne Goodwin, the executive director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Trans Equity Project. "The cruelty is the point."
• Meanwhile, the Trump administration's executive orders and rhetoric on immigration are also stoking fear, by design, among people in the country illegally. Rumors of ICE raids have sparked panic in cities around the country and led some immigrants to stay home from work and school.
• But some legal immigrants, international students and even U.S. citizens are also concerned. Many have started carrying around their visas and passports in case they are stopped.

Driving the news: For transgender Americans, “the barriers and actual impacts are already coming hard and fast,” says Erin Reed, a trans rights activist and writer.

• Access to gender-affirming care, workplace protections, and even passport renewals are on the line for some trans Americans.
• The military, which is believed to employ thousands of transgender service members, says it will stop providing gender-affirming care and no longer allow trans people to enlist.
• Transgender students and their parents fear their institutions will stop supporting them. The Trump administration is already investigating at least two universities and one high school for accommodating trans athletes or all-gender bathrooms.
• Government sites are wiping references to transgender Americans and history, or removing the "T" and "Q" from LGBTQ.

“The end goal is to push transgender people so far to the margins that people can’t even know about us,” Reed says.

• There are 1.6 million people over the age of 13 who identify as transgender in America, and they are four times more likely to be victims of violent crime.
• "For transgender youth, if your government is telling that they don’t want you, if your society is telling you that they don’t want you, how does that make you feel?" says Reed. "And the message to cisgender youth is that this is an acceptable group of people to hate and that this is an acceptable group to bully."

The Trump administration's executive orders targeting illegal immigration as well as its rhetoric are also stoking fear, Axios Local cities across the country report.

• In central Ohio and Denver, some students have skipped school out of fear of ICE raids. Sales are slowing down at the shops in Minneapolis' Latino neighborhoods, and shopkeepers attribute the slump to immigrant customers staying home.
• L.J. D'Arrigo, who leads the immigration practice at Harris Beach Murtha, a law firm in Albany, N.Y., tells Axios his "phone has been ringing off the hook."
• This week, the White House's X account shared a video of people in shackles preparing to board a deportation flight and called it "ASMR," referring to an online trend of posting videos with pleasant, gentle sounds.

The bottom line: Regardless of how President Trump's executive orders shake out in the courts, experts say the widespread fear and micro and macro changes to daily life will have lasting implications for these groups.

The tech ecosystem that surrounds today's teens is fueling loneliness.

Why it matters: It's a dangerous environment for a generation that's already sad and stressed. And it's more difficult than ever for their parents, teachers and coaches to understand and help them.

The big picture: Data shows that teens are spending less time hanging out with friends in person, and more time on their devices.

• America's 15- to 24-year-olds spend 35% less time socializing face-to-face than they did 20 years ago, The Atlantic reports.
• Instead, American kids and teenagers spend nearly six hours a day looking at screens, according to the Digital Parenthood Initiative.

Parents' concern about how kids use tech isn't new. We saw it with chatrooms in the '90s, then with the advent of social media in the aughts. But the way teens typically use tech today — via smartphones and tablets — is different.

• "There's a ton of tech out there. But the one thing that's different about this tech is that it's used in private," says Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas. That's leading to new stress — often away from parents' eyes.

Case in point: Sharing locations isn't reserved for parents. High schoolers are tracking each other, seeing in real time when their friends are hanging out without them.

• It's not uncommon to have the locations of dozens of peers, especially on Snapchat's Snap Maps, says Meghan Whitten, a junior at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon, who wrote about the phenomenon for her school's newspaper.

"I do get FOMO [fear of missing out] when I see my friends hanging out," Whitten says.

• Even if it's not intentional, "it definitely contributes to anxiety around social situations — especially during high school, which is all around a stressful time."

On top of that, the fact that much of teens' socialization happens online is contributing to loneliness.

• Spending time with people releases certain chemicals in the brain and boosts our mood. You can't get the same benefits from texting or even audio or video calls, Hall says.
• Interacting with others via group chats or social media posts has even less value.

What to watch: The latest tech danger teens are facing is the rise of AI chatbots.

• These AI friends or romantic interests have been heralded as a cure for loneliness. But they might escalate feelings of isolation, experts say. And they could be especially dangerous for teens who already struggle with depression or anxiety.
• The debate over these bots has intensified since one teen fell in love with a chatbot and ended up taking his own life last year.

Reality check: Online communication can't replace in-person hangouts. But it's better than no communication at all, Hall says.

• Plus, many kids and teens learn new things online through chatbots or YouTube videos. And many use tech tools to make music or art. Taking away devices isn't necessarily the answer.

The bottom line: Don't try to shut off the world.

• "Your goal as a parent," Hall says, "is to equip your kids with the tools to handle the media that they will have access to."

Go deeper: "AI bots enter the group chat," by Axios' Megan Morrone.

On TikTok, on Instagram and in family group chats, foreign students and workers — and even U.S. citizens — are advising each other to keep their passports and visas close when out and about.

Why it matters: Foreign-born Americans and immigrants say they're afraid of getting swept up in aggressive immigration raids, even though they're here legally.

• “My phone’s been ringing off the hook the last two weeks with questions of ‘what do we do if ICE comes knocking on my door?’” said L.J. D'Arrigo, who leads the immigration practice at Harris Beach Murtha, a law firm in Albany N.Y.
• “There’s a lot of widespread hysteria among those legally in the U.S., including U.S. citizens, green card holders and foreign nationals on temporary visas,” D'Arrigo said.

Driving the news: President Trump campaigned on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, and ICE arrests have ramped up since he's taken office.

• He's also pulled back regulations keeping ICE out of schools, churches and hospitals.
• International students who are here legally have also been targeted with an executive order that calls for the visas of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests to be canceled.

Between the lines: The Trump administration has broadcast much of their arrest and deportation efforts. Just the image of a widespread crackdown can be enough to spark fear and even make illegal border crossings temporarily slow.

• The reality of those efforts is more complicated, with severely limited resources to detain and deport people, Axios' Stef Kight notes.

Zoom in: Vidya Gopalan, an Indian American influencer, said on TikTok that she's carrying her passport with her even though she's a citizen. She added that she's directing her parents and in-laws to do so too and is especially concerned for them because they have accents.

• In another TikTok, a lawyer said she's asking her kids, who have U.S. passports, to carry them around because they have Nigerian last names.
• International students have posted online videos of themselves making copies of their documents or pocketing them before leaving home.
• "The environment has made it feel like a small but essential step for peace of mind," a University of Michigan Ph.D. student from India told Axios on the decision to carry around documents.

“There are legitimate reasons for some foreign national populations in some industries that typically employ seasonal migrant workers, like hospitality, manufacturing or landscaping, to be concerned” regardless of their legal status, D’Arrigo said. “That’s low-hanging fruit. That’s probably where ICE will go next.”

• “We are recommending that they carry a copy of their visa or other type of documentation confirming their legal status,” he said.
• “In the last four years I haven’t made that recommendation. I made it in 2016 and again now. It really does matter who the administration is and who their enforcement priorities are, and this administration has made it clear that every employer is a priority target for enforcement," whether that be an audit or an actual raid, D'Arrigo said.

The executive branch will stop spending money on Politico subscriptions after paying millions of dollars to the news outlet last year, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Wednesday.

• "I was made aware of the funding of USAID to media outlets, including Politico ... And I can confirm that the more than eight million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayer's dime will no longer be happening," Leavitt said. "The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now."
• 'This is a whole of government effort to ensure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government's books."

Why it matters: It's an easy political lever for the Trump administration to pull to undermine media without facing legal or regulatory hurdles.

• Right-wing personalities are using USAspending.gov to dig up more payments from the government to media organizations — like The New York Times, AP and Reuters — for products and subscriptions. Look for those organizations to be in the hot seat next.

How we got here: A fake theory about Politico being funded by the government is catching fire in right-wing circles.

• It’s a prime example of how false information sweeps through social media — and it could spell trouble for Politico and any other media organization that has contracts for subscriptions with the government.
• Politico hasn't responded to Axios' request for comment.

Zoom in: The story appears to have started when Politico missed payroll on Tuesday because of a tech snag, media reporter Will Sommer notes.

• MAGA media dug into public records on USAspending.gov and uncovered that the government paid Politico $8.2 million in the last 12 months.
• People linked those two facts and wrongly assumed that Politico missed payroll because those millions came from USAID. That turned into dozens of viral posts on X, reposted by Elon Musk himself.

Reality check: It appears $24,000 of that $8.2 million came from USAID. $8.2 million was the amount the entire government paid Politico — and it's likely the cost of premium subscriptions, such as Politico Pro.

• This is paywalled content that goes deeper on policy and industry and costs thousands per year.

What they're saying: Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and global editor-in-chief John Harris sent a memo to staffers saying "we welcome" the conversation around the value of Politico's subscriptions.

• The Politico bosses noted that the company had "never been the beneficiary of government programs or subsidies" and that the "overwhelming majority" of subscriptions come from the private sector.
• "Please know that our business is strong and enduring," they added.

Zoom out: The government spends money on subscriptions and advertising with various media companies. Agency heads are allowed to dictate that spending, according to the General Services Administration.

• There aren't federal laws that require the government to spend ad or subscription dollars with certain outlets, although there are some laws around public notice advertising that require state governments to run ads in local newspapers.

Our thought bubble: The government spends trillions of taxpayer funds annually. The fact that the Trump administration is focused on slashing relatively small media budgets at the outset of Trump's second term speaks to how seriously targeting media companies is their priority.

• MAGA accounts are continuing to seize on this theory and proliferate it online.
• Conservative commentator Dana Loesch is calling for protests outside Politico’s offices.

This story was updated with the internal Politico memo.

Disclosure: Our Axios Pro product provides in-depth policy and industry news to paying subscribers, including government employees. Last year, $5,550 in payments were made to Axios as part of a Federal Communications Commission subscription, according to the government's database that tracks federal spending.

The debate over COVID's origins has included two main theories: that it came naturally from a market in Wuhan, China, or that it came from a lab leak there. In a new assessment, the CIA says it's more likely that COVID originated from a lab leak.

Why it matters: "John Ratcliffe, the new director of the CIA., ... has said it is a critical piece of intelligence that needs to be understood and that it has consequences for U.S.-Chinese relations," The New York Times' Julian E. Barnes reports.

Catch up quick: There's no new evidence. These conclusions came from a review ordered by the Biden administration and released this week by Ratcliffe.

• According to a CIA spokesperson, "CIA assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting. CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible."
• "We have low confidence in this judgement and will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting or open-source information that could change CIA's assessment."

What to watch: "Ratcliffe has promised a more aggressive CIA, and it is possible that he will order more actions to penetrate the labs in Wuhan or the Chinese government in a search for information," Barnes writes.

• "It will not be an easy secret to steal. The senior ranks of the Chinese government do not know, and do not want to know, American officials have said. So if there is intelligence, it is probably hidden in a place that is hard to get to."

Americans who live in states dealing with fires, high winds and flooding could see insurance rates increase — or lose coverage entirely — as disasters intensify.

Why it matters: The affected areas span from coast to coast and include tens of millions of people living in two of the most populous states — California and Florida.

• Homeowner's insurance rates in some of these areas could start to become unaffordable as climate change fuels an increase in destructive storms.
• And if insurers decide to pull back altogether, states will need to step in to take on the risk — which can cost individuals more and offer less coverage.

Zoom out: The human toll, damage, and cost of disasters is mounting.

• The U.S. saw 28 weather and climate disasters costing at least 1 billion dollars in 2023 — the highest on record. Damages totaled $93 billion.
• 2024 disaster data is not yet out, though it’s expected to follow the trend.

What to watch: Insurers are changing how they factor climate and extreme weather risks into the premiums they charge for coverage, while some are suspending coverage, Axios’ Brianna Crane reports.

• That's pushing many homeowners to opt for public "insurer of last resort" plans — but often at higher rates.

A new poll of college students found that half view the suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's recent killing extremely or somewhat favorably, and nearly half believe the crime was justified.

• 81% of the students polled by Generation Lab said they have an extremely or somewhat negative view of Thompson, the victim.

Why it matters: There's a stark divide between how young people and older people view Thompson's killing. Polls and social media posts indicate that, among young people, there's lasting support for and fascination with a suspected killer — and disdain for the victim.

By the numbers: When asked with whom they sympathize more, 45% of respondents chose suspect Luigi Mangione, 17% chose Thompson, and 37% said neither.

• 48% said they view the killing as totally or somewhat justified.
• Those findings chime with an Emerson College poll which found that 41% of voters under 30 found the killing "acceptable," far more than in any other age group.

Methodology: This poll was conducted December 19–23 from a representative sample of 1,026 college students nationwide from 2-year and 4-year schools. The margin of error is +/- 3.4 percentage points. The Generation Lab conducts polling using a demographically representative sample frame of college students at community colleges, technical colleges, trade schools and public and private four-year institutions.

In less than a month, TikTok could be banned in the U.S. — and the fate of a multibillion-dollar creator economy is at stake.

Why it matters: The global influencer industry is worth about $250 billion, Goldman Sachs estimates. TikTok is where the big money is, and where many influencers have built their largest and most loyal followings.

For many influencers, “this could be an extinction-level event,” says James Nord, founder and CEO of Fohr, an influencer marketing company.

Driving the news: The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 10 over whether the law to force a sale of TikTok from its parent company or face a ban is constitutional, Axios' Maria Curi notes.

• TikTok is racing against the clock with a Jan. 19 ban looming.

Lawmakers have told Google and Apple to be ready to remove it from their U.S. app stores on Jan. 19.

• People who have already downloaded TikTok can keep using it for some time, but it will no longer update, making the app buggy and eventually useless.

Zoom out: TikTok has a stunning 170 million users in the U.S., and just 32% of Americans support a ban, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

• But lawmakers and experts have identified national security reasons to restrict the app as long as it holds its connection to China, including the spread of misinformation and espionage.

Zoom in: Some TikTok personalities are attempting to get ahead of the ban by asking followers to find them on Instagram or YouTube.

• "I don't think there's longevity on this app in the United States," Chris Burkett, a lifestyle influencer with 1.3 million TikTok followers, said in a video urging people to follow him on Instagram.
• "There's been so many false alarms ... Anyways, I very much do exist on another place ... so if you want to keep in touch," Audrey Peters, a fashion and beauty influencer with a million followers, said in a video.

But for many others and the brands they work with, business is humming along as usual. “Everything’s kind of going status quo. Contracts are still moving,” Nord says.

• Just 1 in 3 beauty influencers said they were somewhat or very worried about a ban in an October Fohr survey. “It’s a product of them talking about this for so many years but it not happening,” says Nord.
• In some contracts, brands and influencers are agreeing to work together on Instagram if TikTok goes away, but that’s an imperfect strategy.

Reality check: Many influencers’ Instagram or YouTube followings are orders of magnitude smaller than their TikTok audiences.

• Many don’t even have large enough followings on those other platforms to get brand deals or make money from content.

Case in point: Fohr analyzed the TikTok and Instagram accounts of nearly 23,000 creators in its network.

• 39% of them had more followers on TikTok than on Instagram, and the average difference in number of followers was +182,000 on TikTok.

What's next: If TikTok is banned and eventually becomes obsolete, the influencers who relied on it for income likely won't get unemployment or other benefits.

• “This could be unique in that I don’t know if there’s been a law since prohibition that will shut down so many small businesses overnight,” Nord says. “And as of now, the government is not offering any support.”

Colleges across the country are shutting down expensive and expansive diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, some of which were put in place just a few years ago.

Why it matters: While students, faculty, administrators and experts all acknowledge DEI programs can be flawed, bans are prompting colleges to close up cultural centers and rewrite course catalogs — moves that can interfere with student life and threaten free speech.

The big picture: DEI programs, many of which sprung up in 2020 amid Black Lives Matter protests and a national reckoning on race, often involve running cultural centers, ensuring diversity in hiring and developing training programs to promote inclusiveness.

• They have become a favorite target for Republican governors, and President-elect Trump has promised a nationwide crackdown.
• "If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in April when signing the state's ban on using public funds for DEI programs.
• Texas, Iowa and Utah have also banned DEI offices and initiatives at universities. Alabama has restricted them.

Driving the news: Institutions in these states are responding with sweeping changes — many of which are broader than what the laws dictate, says Jeremy Young, the Freedom to Learn program director for PEN America.

• The University of Utah and Weber State University in Ogden both eliminated all their cultural centers — including resource centers for Black students, LGBTQ students and women, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
• Administrators at the University of North Texas made hundreds of edits to the titles and descriptions of courses to take out references to race and equity, according to the Texas Tribune.
• The University of North Florida closed its cultural centers and eliminated its interfaith and intercultural centers, which were open to all students.

What we’re watching: Universities in states that have not yet implemented DEI bans are also cutting programs. “There’s an epidemic of pre-compliance and over-compliance, and that’s really hurting students,” Young says.

• The University of Missouri got rid of its DEI office to pre-empt anti-DEI legislation, notes Inside Higher Ed.
• The University of Michigan, which has one of the most ambitious and well-funded DEI programs in the country, is axing diversity statements in faculty hiring and promotion, the New York Times reports.

"What's important going forward is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater," says Paul Brest, a professor emeritus at Stanford Law School, who recently co-authored a column on the drawbacks of DEI programs.

• Brest argued that DEI programs at schools like Stanford are too ideological and prioritize discrimination against some groups but not others, such as Jewish students.
• Despite those qualms, Brest tells Axios initiatives like cultural centers are key in fostering community.
• “The main goal is for students to feel like they really belong on campus. If you don’t feel like you belong, you’re much less likely to be academically engaged and successful.”

Long-form entertainment is out and snack-sized media is in for the next generation of kids, teens and young adults.

Why it matters: Smartphones, social media and constant internet access have changed the way we think — and that’s eroding young people’s willingness to focus.

• "Boredom comes much easier now," says Bonnie Nagel, a behavioral neuroscientist at Oregon Health & Science University.

Driving the news: English professors across the country say college students are struggling to finish books, The Atlantic reports. That’s in part because middle and high school teachers have noted kids’ attention problem and started assigning poems, short stories or excerpts of books instead of full works.

• Kids shows are getting shorter. Episodes of Bluey, one of the most popular kids shows, are about seven minutes long on average, Vulture notes.
• Pop songs are simpler, shorter and more repetitive to give them a better chance of going viral on TikTok and Instagram in snippet form, Forbes reports.

Zoom out: Studies have linked excessive screen time to problems focusing in kids.

• All of us — including kids and teens — have a world of entertainment at our fingertips, and we can just keep scrolling if something doesn’t grab us.
• "There’s an adaptation of our attention to require rapid content change or really exciting content," Nagel says.

It's not that young people today aren't learning.

• They are arguably processing more information on a wider variety of topics than older generations did at the same age.
• But absorbing all that information in bite-sized pieces can prevent them from sharpening their focus.

The stakes: "In life there are going to be many times where we’re going to have to pay attention to slower things or things that are more boring, where our attention skills are going to be required," Nagel says.

• "This is creating real problems for teachers," says Daniel Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia. "We all lose if teachers feel like everything needs to be this snack-sized presentation."
• These trends also raise questions about the next generation’s ability to focus in the workplace.
• Plus, the turn toward shorter, snappier content means young people might miss out on a great deal of art — from epic novels to slow-burn movies.

What to watch: We know that kids and teens’ willingness to pay attention for long periods of time is dwindling, but the research doesn’t show — nor is it likely — that kids are any less able to focus than their parents or grandparents, Willingham says.

• Learning to pay attention is just another skill that kids growing up in the world of devices and social media might have to work harder to hone.

The House GOP's decision to bar Congress' first-ever transgender member from women's bathrooms spotlights a national trend: Republicans see targeting trans rights as a sure-fire political winner.

Why it matters: Republicans are treating their victory as a mandate to further restrict trans people from accessing bathrooms, youth sports and gender-affirming care, citing President-elect Trump's closing message: "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you."

• Democrats, paralyzed by post-election finger-pointing, have been blindsided by the apparent potency of Republicans' anti-trans fear-mongering.
• Meanwhile, the trans community — already a historically marginalized population — has been left wondering who exactly is standing with them.

Driving the news: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Wednesday that transgender people are henceforth banned from bathrooms on the House side of the Capitol complex that correspond to their gender identity.

• Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) had introduced a bill to that effect and made clear she was targeting her soon-to-be House colleague. "Sarah McBride doesn't get a say in this," Mace said. "If you're a biological man, you shouldn't be in women's restrooms."
• Even moderate Republicans told Axios' Andrew Solender they were unlikely to oppose Mace's bill. "I mean — a presidential election may have been decided on this issue," one said.

Zoom out: This goes far beyond Washington. There was a huge spike in anti-trans legislation at the state and federal level last year, and a record 665 such bills have been introduced this year, per the Trans Legislation Tracker.

• The bills target a range of things from youth sports participation to bathrooms to pronouns in classrooms.
• Republicans introduced 32 anti-trans bills just on the first day of the pre-filing period ahead of Texas' 2025 legislative sessions, journalist Erin Reed reports.
• Ohio's legislature passed a statewide bathroom ban on college campuses on its first day back in session after the election last week.

The other side: While Democrats were appalled by Mace's bill — "This is not just bigotry, this is just plain bullying," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told Solender — they're divided over how to handle the broader issue.

• In a closed-door meeting last week, Democratic senators lamented that they'd felt ambushed by relentless anti-trans campaign ads, Axios' Stephen Neukam reported.
• One ad targeting defeated Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he voted for "allowing trans biological men in girls' locker rooms" and "sex change surgery for kids." Brown released an ad of his own asking voters to "reject the lies."
• Vice President Harris mostly ignored Trump's anti-trans ads, which aired on repeat in swing states in the closing weeks and hardly mentioned the word "trans" during the campaign.
• Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), meanwhile, faced calls to resign from within his own party after telling the New York Times after the election: "I have two little girls, I don't want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I'm supposed to be afraid to say that."

Reality check: Republicans have bet on the anti-trans agenda as a winning strategy, even when the issues on the table affect a tiny share of Americans — and the population targeted by the bills is among the likeliest to suffer from anxiety and depression.

• "It's amazing how strongly people feel about this," Trump said during a 2023 event in North Carolina. "I talk about transgender, everyone goes crazy, who would have thought five years ago you didn't know what the hell it was."
• In 2021, AP reached out to lawmakers in 20 states who had proposed youth sports bans and found that almost none of them could cite any examples of transgender athletes' participation posing problems in their own states.

State of play: McBride privately counseled her Democratic colleagues to cast the fight over bathroom access as a distraction from real issues their constituents are facing, as NOTUS first reported, and said she would follow the rules Johnson laid out "even if I disagree with them."

• "It is a sad day when pointless culture wars, including gatekeeping the toilets of Capitol Hill, are more important for politicians than doing their actual jobs for the taxpayers who hired them," GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told Axios in a statement.
• Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, scolded Republicans: "This is your priority?"

Friction point: Some in the trans community have criticized McBride, and Democratic leaders, for ceding the issue to Republicans and not pushing back harder.

• The new rules on Capitol Hill were announced on Transgender Day of Remembrance, which commemorates people who have been killed or attacked because they were trans.

Go deeper: LGBTQ+ Americans bracing for Trump's takeover

In the end zone, on the soccer pitch and on the golf course, athletes are paying tribute to President-elect Trump with the “Trump Dance.”

Why it matters: After Trump’s decisive victory, athletes and other celebs seem more willing to publicly associate themselves with the president-elect — even if the dance is more of a pop culture phenomenon than a political endorsement.

Catch up quick: The moves are inspired by a dance Trump has been doing at his rallies for years — pumping his fists and shaking his hips.

Driving the news: In the NFL, Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith, among others, celebrated big plays with the “Trump Dance” recently.

• College football players are doing it too, AP reports.
• Christian Pulisic of the U.S. mens national soccer team imitated the moves to celebrate a goal on Monday.
• And current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones did it during a fight on Saturday, with Trump in attendance.
• Golfer Charley Hull also did the dance during a Sunday match.

Zoom out: The dance has taken on a life of its own, with some athletes saying it’s not meant to make a statement.

• “It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun,” Pulisic said after his game, noting that he had seen "everyone doing it yesterday in the NFL" and Jones doing it in UFC.
• “I saw it and thought it was cool,” Bowers said.

The bottom line: It’s a new MAGA era, and Trumpism is making its way into pop culture in ways that it didn’t the first time he was in office.

They’re donning MAGA hats in cafes, celebrating on social media and flying Trump flags: Supporters of President-elect Trump in deep blue cities and states are no longer keeping it to themselves.

Why it matters: Trump improved on his 2016 and 2020 margins in almost every state, including in most big, blue cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

• Many Trump voters in those cities saw his victory as validation, and are acting accordingly.
• Some residents of liberal enclaves tell Axios they've seen more Trump yard signs go up after the election than before it.
• And many supporters of Vice President Harris are grappling with the fact that their neighbors might not have voted the way they did.

Flashback: The “secret” Trump vote has been a phenomenon for the past few election cycles.

• A study from Columbia Business School found that among those who kept their choice a secret leading up to the 2016 election, two out of three went for Trump.
• "I think people recognize that that there is some kind of reputational cost of supporting Trump," says Columbia's Michael Slepian, who co-authored the study.

Zoom in: According to Slepian’s research, people primarily keep their votes secret because they're concerned about their reputation, about conflicts with family and friends, and about feeling like they don’t belong in their neighborhood or city.

• And while many people who supported Trump will continue to keep mum due to those concerns, others are seeing the rightward shift in blue cities and the broader support for Trump and deciding to go public.
• "There's such a stigma still with being a Trump supporter ... I'm not sure it's gonna be like that anymore," says Jonathan Alpert, a Manhattan-based psychotherapist who says patients told him they were keeping their support for the former president quiet before the election.

“All of these undercover Trump people are out,” says Robert Cahaly, a pollster and strategist at the right-leaning Trafalgar Group. “People that would have hidden a week or so ago aren’t hiding anymore.”

• On TikTok, Instagram and beyond, some influencers who’d kept their political preferences hidden are going full MAGA, The Cut reports.
• And social media has been full of photos of Trump paraphernalia on display in the most unlikely neighborhoods.

The other side: Big cities still overwhelmingly backed Harris. And many of the residents in those cities have been surprised to see support for Trump in their communities.

• “I feel gutted ... I feel that my country and large parts of our city have betrayed ourselves and our children and our neighbors," Annie Thoms, a high school teacher in Manhattan told the New York Times.
• Mary Swallow, a 63-year-old Democrat in Philadelphia, told the Wall Street Journal she hadn't realized how Trumpy her neighborhood of Bridgesburg had become: "How sad is that? ... Oh well, what are you going to do? Better luck another time."