Three top political reporters — Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf — will be out July 8 with "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," based on 300+ interviews over 18 months.

• "The whole world was against me, and I won," President Trump told the authors in an interview 10 days before his second inauguration.

Why it matters: "2024" promises revelations about "how Trump and his advisers overcame a dozen primary challengers, four indictments, two assassination attempts, and his own past mistakes to defeat the Democrats."

The backstory: The three were colleagues at the Washington Post during the 2024 cycle. Amid Post travails, the trio scattered after the election:

• Dawsey is now a political investigations and enterprise reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Pager is a White House correspondent for the New York Times. And Arnsdorf is a senior White House reporter for the Post.

💭 Pager tells me: "We set out to write this book more than a year before Joe Biden met Donald Trump on the debate stage in Atlanta, because we felt uniquely situated to tell the behind-the-scenes of this historic rematch."

• Dawsey says the authors "obtained recordings and notes of many meetings and traveled across the country."
• Arnsdorf adds that after covering the campaigns in real time, the reporters retraced "every step once we knew the outcome, to pinpoint what really mattered. Even if you read all the daily news coverage published in 2024, you'll find something new on every page."

Go deeper.

This year's epic, relentless news cycles were driven by months of near-unprecedented political violence and uncertainty — plus the Olympics, according to Axios' annual analysis of Google Trends data.

Why it matters: Even in a wild election year, America's short attention span for news led to dramatic ups and downs in search trends as the media pivoted from one major story to the next.

The big picture: The Paris Games were the news event that saw the largest spike in interest compared to the others analyzed by Axios.

• The election itself — peaking on Nov. 5 — and the Pennsylvania assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump were runners-up.
• On the lighter side, the next two biggest peaks were for the total solar eclipse in April and Mike Tyson's return to boxing against YouTuber Jake Paul.

Zoom in: Only a small handful of people and news events managed to hold public attention over long-term periods.

• Trump, of course, was one of them. He became the first former president convicted of felony crimes, survived two assassination attempts and was the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades.
• Attention on President Biden shot up after his catastrophic debate performance in June and peaked around July 21, when he dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Harris after weeks of not-so-private pushing from a prominent group of Democrats.
• Elon Musk attracted search interest all year — but it boomed in October and early November as he unleashed unprecedented sums of cash to get Trump elected and personally campaigned in Pennsylvania.
• Israel and Gaza received consistent attention year-round but was rarely the top search at any given moment.

Among celebrities and athletes, Taylor Swift once again commanded an outsize share of attention.

• The deaths of O.J. Simpson and former One Direction singer Liam Payne made them two of the most searched people of the year.
• Search interest in Sean "Diddy" Combs peaked twice, once when federal agents raided his home in March and again after federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking and racketeering in September.

What we're watching: Trump-driven news cycles — backed by the power of the White House bully pulpit — could be like nothing we've seen in the last four years.

Go deeper: Revisit the moments that shaped the election.

Americans want to hear less about politics from public figures — and Republicans really don't want to hear it, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

Why it matters: After an election season where endorsements from celebrities frequently made news, the survey found Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of celebrities, big companies and athletes sounding off on politics.

By the numbers:

• Just 39% of Democrats approve of celebrities piping up on political issues — but only 11% of Republicans and 12% of independents (24% for the whole sample).
• Same with pro athletes: 39% of Democrats approve of them speaking up — but just 16% of Republicans and 15% of independents (26% overall).
• Small business is a big exception: 43% of people are happy to hear from entrepreneurs. That breaks down to 49% of Dems, 41% of Republicans and 33% of independents.

Zoom out: The poll also found that most Americans are trying to avoid political news. Go deeper.

Apple is closing in on a $4 trillion stock market valuation, powered by investors cheering progress in the company's long-awaited AI enhancements to rejuvenate sluggish iPhone sales.

Why it matters: The company has pulled ahead of Nvidia and Microsoft in the race to the monumental milestone, thanks to an about 16% jump in shares since early November that has added about $500 billion to its market capitalization.

Go deeper: What Apple's AI knows about you

This Sunday on "60 Minutes," Lesley Stahl interviews the recently retired Mossad agents who masterminded the exploding pager operation against Hezbollah.

Why it matters: The stunning, decade-long Israeli plot to manufacture and sell booby-trapped devices sparked chaos among Hezbollah's leadership and helped devastate the group's operations.

• The pager attack — and a similar remote detonation of walkie-talkies the next day — was part of a dramatic escalation between Hezbollah and Israel that drove thousands of civilians from their homes on both sides of the conflict.
• Israel ultimately killed Hezbollah's top leaders and reached a ceasefire with the Iran-backed group that remains fragile.

Zoom in: "60 Minutes" agreed the agents could wear masks and alter their voices to keep them anonymous for the report, which airs at 7:30 p.m. ET or after football on CBS and Paramount+.

• The agents told Stahl they tested the devices "multiple times in order to make sure there is minimum damage."
• "If we push the button the only one that will get injured is the terrorist himself. Even if his wife or his daughter will be just next to him, he's the only one that going to be harmed."

Reality check: Lebanese health authorities said at least two children were among the 37 people killed in the attack. More than 3,400 were injured.

Women will hold a record number of state legislative seats next year, filling about a third of seats nationwide.

Why it matters: The most notable increases were in New Mexico and Colorado, where women will make up most lawmakers for the first time, AP reports.

By the numbers: 19 states will increase the number of women in their state legislatures in 2025, according to Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics.

• Female GOP state lawmakers, at least 851, will break the record set last year.

Yes, but: The uptick was small. And at least 13 states saw losses in female representation.

Go deeper: The Resistance goes quiet