Conor McGregor, the mixed martial arts champ known as Notorious, was spotted making the scene at STK Steakhouse in Washington this weekend.
Other Ultimate Fighting Championship stars are expected at a black-tie reception Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — a UFC fan and Brazilian jiu-jitsu medalist — will co-host Monday night before the inaugural balls.
Why it matters: The fighters are part of a celebrity influx since President-elect Trump's last inauguration. Giddy MAGA insiders crow that Trump is culturally cool — or at least socially acceptable — after a stretch of toxicity.
Alex Bruesewitz — CEO of X Strategies LLC, based in Palm Beach, who advises Trump's inner circle on alternative media — told Axios between parties this weekend: "President Trump is cool again."
"He's reclaimed that image he had his entire adult life before he ran for president — sitting courtside at New York Knicks games and lighting Kate Moss's cigarette," Bruesewitz said. "That Donald Trump is back, and now he's going to the White House. It's now socially acceptable to support it."
Behind the scenes: Bruesewitz helped lead the charge on VIP outreach for the inauguration. As the celebrity liaison, he drew on his personal relationships and input from other Trump friends to help build a glittery roster for this weekend's festivities.
Bruesewitz told me part of the reason is that as celebrities met Trump personally, and as people hear him on long-form podcast interviews, they found him at odds with the portrayal in much of the media: "He was charming and hilarious, not crazy and angry."
Trump's inaugural weekend roster is expected to include:
Architects of the leading generative AI models are abuzz that a top company, possibly OpenAI, in coming weeks will announce a next-level breakthrough that unleashes Ph.D.-level super-agents to do complex human tasks.
We've learned that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — who in September dubbed this "The Intelligence Age," and is in Washington this weekend for the inauguration — has scheduled a closed-door briefing for U.S. government officials in Washington on Jan. 30.
Why it matters: The expected advancements help explain why Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and others have talked publicly about AI replacing mid-level software engineers and other human jobs this year.
"[P]robably in 2025," Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan 10 days ago, "we at Meta, as well as the other companies that are basically working on this, are going to have an AI that can effectively be a sort of midlevel engineer that you have at your company that can write code."
"[O]ver time, we'll get to the point where a lot of the code in our apps, and including the AI that we generate, is actually going to be built by AI engineers instead of people engineers," he added.
Between the lines: A super-agent breakthrough could push generative AI from a fun, cool, aspirational tool to a true replacement for human workers.
Our sources in the U.S. government and leading AI companies tell us that in recent months, the leading companies have been exceeding projections in AI advancement.
OpenAI this past week released an "Economic Blueprint" arguing that with the right rules and infrastructure investments, AI can "catalyze a reindustrialization across the country."
To be sure: The AI world is full of hype. Most people struggle now to use the most popular models to truly approximate the work of humans.
AI investors have reason to hype small advancements as epic ones to juice valuations to help fund their ambitions.
But sources say this coming advancement is significant. Several OpenAI staff have been telling friends they are both jazzed and spooked by recent progress. As we told you in a column Saturday, Jake Sullivan — the outgoing White House national security adviser, with security clearance for the nation's biggest secrets — believes the next few years will determine whether AI advancements end in "catastrophe."
The big picture: Imagine a world where complex tasks aren't delegated to humans. Instead, they're executed with the precision, speed, and creativity you'd expect from a Ph.D.-level professional.
We're talking about super-agents — AI tools designed to tackle messy, multilayered, real-world problems that human minds struggle to organize and conquer.
They don't just respond to a single command; they pursue a goal. Super agents synthesize massive amounts of information, analyze options and deliver products.
A few examples:
Build from scratch: Imagine telling your agent, "Build me new payment software." The agent could design, test and deliver a functioning product.
Make sense of chaos: For a financial analysis of a potential investment, your agent could scour thousands of sources, evaluate risks, and compile insights faster (and better) than a team of humans.
Master logistics: Planning an offsite retreat? The agent could handle scheduling, travel arrangements, handouts and more — down to booking a big dinner in a private room near the venue.
This isn't a lights-on moment — AI is advancing along a spectrum.
These tools are growing smarter, sharper, and more integrated every day. "This will have huge applications for health, science and education," an AI insider tells us, "because of the ability to do deep research at a scale and scope we haven't seen — then the compounding effects translate into real productivity growth."
The other side: There are still big problems with generative AI's Achilles heel — the way it makes things up. Reliability and hallucinations are an even bigger problem if you're going to turn AI into autonomous agents: Unless OpenAI and its rivals can persuade customers and users that agents can be trusted to perform tasks without going off the rails, the companies' vision of autonomous agents will flop.
Noam Brown, a top OpenAI researcher, tweeted Friday: "Lots of vague AI hype on social media these days. There are good reasons to be optimistic about further progress, but plenty of unsolved research problems remain."
What to watch: Two massive tectonic shifts are happening at once — President-elect Trump and MAGA are coming into power at the very moment AI companies are racing to approximate human-like or human-surpassing intelligence.
Look for Congress to tackle a massive AI infrastructure bill to help spur American job growth in the data, chips and energy to power AI.
And look for MAGA originals like Steve Bannon to argue that coming generations of AI will be job-killing evil for managerial, administrative and tech workers. The new models "will gut the workforce — especially entry-level, where young people start," Bannon told us.
Axios' Scott Rosenberg, managing editor for tech, contributed reporting.
Jake Sullivan — with three days left as White House national security adviser, with wide access to the world's secrets — called us to deliver a chilling, "catastrophic" warning for America and the incoming administration:
The next few years will determine whether artificial intelligence leads to catastrophe — and whether China or America prevails in the AI arms race.
Why it matters: Sullivan said in our phone interview that unlike previous dramatic technology advancements (atomic weapons, space, the internet), AI development sits outside of government and security clearances, and in the hands of private companies with the power of nation-states.
Underscoring the gravity of his message, Sullivan spoke with an urgency and directness that were rarely heard during his decade-plus in public life.
Somehow, government will have to join forces with these companies to nurture and protect America's early AI edge, and shape the global rules for using potentially God-like powers, he says.
U.S. failure to get this right, Sullivan warns, could be "dramatic, and dramatically negative — to include the democratization of extremely powerful and lethal weapons; massive disruption and dislocation of jobs; an avalanche of misinformation."
Staying ahead in the AI arms race makes the Manhattan Project during World War II seem tiny, and conventional national security debates small. It's potentially existential with implications for every nation and company.
To distill Sullivan: America must quickly perfect a technology that many believe will be smarter and more capable than humans. We need to do this without decimating U.S. jobs, and inadvertently unleashing something with capabilities we didn't anticipate or prepare for. We need to both beat China on the technology and in shaping and setting global usage and monitoring of it, so bad actors don't use it catastrophically. Oh, and it can only be done with unprecedented government-private sector collaboration — and probably difficult, but vital, cooperation with China.
"There's going to have to be a new model of relationship because of just the sheer capability in the hands of a private actor," Sullivan says.
"What exactly that model looks like, whether it takes more the form of guardrails and regulation, and some forms of support from the government —or whether it involves something more ambitious than that — I will tell you that some of the smartest people I know who sit at the intersection of policy and technology are working through the answer to that question right now."
This is beyond uncharted waters. It's an unexplored galaxy — "a new frontier," in his words. And one, he warns, where progress routinely exceeds projections in advancement. Progress is now pulsing in months, not years.
Between the lines: Sullivan leaves government believing this can be done well — and wants to work on this very problem in the private sector.
"I personally am not an AI doomer," he says. "I am a person who believes that we can seize the opportunities of AI. But to do so, we've got to manage the downside risks, and we have to be clear-eyed and real about those risks."
The big picture: There's no person we know in a position of power in AI or governance who doesn't share Sullivan's broad belief in the stakes ahead.
Regardless of what was said in public, every background conversation we had with President Biden's high command came back to China. Yes, they had concerns about the ethics, misinformation and job loss of AI. They talked about that. But they were unusually blunt in private: Every move, every risk was calculated to keep China from beating us to the AI punch. Nothing else matters, they basically said.
That said, AI is like the climate: America could do everything right — but if China refuses to do the same, the problem persists and metastasizes fast. Sullivan said Trump, like Biden, should try to work with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a global AI framework, much like the world did with nuclear weapons.
There won't be one winner in this AI race. Both China and the U.S. are going to have very advanced AI. There'll be tons of open-source AI that many other nations will build on, too. Once one country has made a huge advance, others will match it soon after. What they can't get from their own research or work, they'll get from hacking and spying. (It didn't take long for Russia to match the A-bomb and then the H-bomb.)
Marc Andreessen, who's intimately involved in the Trump transition and AI policy, told Bari Weiss of The Free Press his discussions with the Biden administration this past year were "absolutely horrifying," and said he feared the officials might strangle AI startups if left in power. His chief concern: Biden would assert government control by keeping AI power in the hands of a few big players, suffocating innovation.
Sullivan says a conversation he had with Andreessen struck a very different tone.
"The point he was trying to register with me, which I thought was actually a very fair point, is: I think about downside risk; that's my job," Sullivan told us. "His point was: It should also be my job as national security adviser to think about how AI applications running on American rails globally is better than AI applications running on some other country's rails globally."
What's next: Trump seems to be full speed ahead on AI development. Unlike Biden, he plans to work in deep partnership with AI and tech CEOs at a very personal level. Biden talked to some tech CEOs; Trump is letting them help staff his government. The MAGA-tech merger is among the most important shifts of the past year.
The super-VIP section of Monday's inauguration will be one for a time capsule: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg — who's attending his first inauguration, and is co-hosting a black-tie reception Monday night. The godfathers of tech are all desperate for access, a say, a partnership.
A fight might await: Steve Bannon and other MAGA originals believe AI is evil at scale — a job-killer for the very people who elected Trump. But for now, Bannon is a fairly lonely voice shouting against AI velocity. Trump and the AI gods hold the stage.
The bottom line: There's a reason our Behind the Curtain column writes obsessively about AI and its collision with government. We believe, based on conversations with AI's creators and experts, this dynamic will reshape politics, business and culture beyond most imaginations.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients has an alarm set for 4:20 a.m. But he rarely needs it — he usually beats the buzzer by 10-15 minutes.
His first two tasks of the day: 20 minutes of transcendental meditation ... followed by four shots of espresso. He does an hour of work, then a workout, and is in the office by 7:30 a.m.
Why it matters: Zients, 58, had a lucrative run as a CEO and chairman (The Advisory Board and Corporate Executive Board) and entrepreneur — including co-founding Call Your Mother, the D.C.-area bagel chain.
He has stayed upbeat despite running a White House that is in the dumps and ending on a very downbeat note.
President Obama brought Zients into government as deputy budget director and the nation's first chief performance officer — before making him top economic adviser.
Under President Biden, Zients had the high-stakes, thankless role of COVID response coordinator, helping lead the U.S. back. He took a nine-month break before returning as Biden's second chief of staff.
Over bagels from Call Your Mother in his West Wing corner office (with no computer — just cellphones), he wanted to share leadership lessons learned:
Discuss. Zients is allergic to tackling tough topics over text or email. "They obfuscate precision," he says. So he's known for one-word responses to emails. His favorite: "Discuss." That means to get around a table and dig in. "The hardest decisions require face-to-face conversations, not texts or emails that can blur the precision and debate required to solve the toughest problems," Zients told us.
The 7-minute meeting. That isn't literal — it's how colleagues playfully channel his approach. This is the art of how you "Discuss": His meetings tend to be quick, direct — 15 or 30 minutes. They're often preceded by tightly written memos — upper limit: three pages — so thinking is sharpened before shared. "Short memos in advance of meetings are key to efficient discussion and decision-making," he told us. "Shorter is harder than longer, as it forces rigorous analysis and requires precision." He's not a fan of "graphics for the sake of graphics."
Don't "admire the problem." Too many people too often stare at the complexity of an issue instead of solving the damn thing. In government, you don't always choose your problem. You did pick the solution. So get to it.
Dive into it. This is his go-to solution when a dirty-diaper issue lands on his desk. So many government leaders want to run away, often in fear. "When something is troubling you, don't fret it or deny it," Zients says. "Dive into it — it only gets better."
Execute, execute, execute. He says it so often it's stamped on a helmet, a gift from a staffer, that sits on the fireplace mantel in his White House office. Executing in government is a tremendous grind, so he delights in the nuts and bolts of managing. Zients pointed to Obamacare as a great example. Obama's crowning achievement almost died during the execution phase after the website powering it crashed. Zients led the team that fixed it.
Face into it. "You need the reps" to master crappy or tough situations, Zients says. His days are full of them. But the more you face them and solve them, the calmer and wiser you grow. He calls it "facing into the problem."
Build the team. "In the federal government, we don't spend enough time on recruiting, coaching and giving feedback," Zients says. "When you build and invest in a team of smart, diverse, and low-ego people who are in it for the right reasons and have each other's backs, you can weather any crisis and capture any opportunity."
Keep it sunny. "Leaders should always be optimistic," he says. "I'm not talking about blind optimism, but optimism coupled with a credible plan to get things done or solve the problem."
The bottom line: Zients says working in business first made him a better government leader because of the private sector's focus on the importance of teams — "from recruiting to coaching and focus on execution/getting stuff done."
Little of that comes naturally in government. "There are pockets," Zients told us, "but not enough focus."
Scott Bessent,President-elect Trump's pick for Treasury, will tell the Senate Finance Committee at his confirmation hearing Thursday that he sees "a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans."
Why it matters: The South Carolina billionaire is respected on Wall Street and has been called the "quiet killer" for his finesse with massive trades.
What he's saying: "I was born and raised in the South Carolina Low Country," Bessent is planning to tell the committee in his opening statement, shared with Axios. "My father fell into extreme financial difficulty when I was young. When I was 9 years old, I started working two summer jobs and I haven't stopped working since."
"My life has been the 'only in America' story that I am determined to preserve for future generations."
Zoom in: Bessent will saythe U.S. "must secure supply chains that are vulnerable to strategic competitors, and we must carefully deploy sanctions as part of a whole-of-government approach to address our national security requirements. And critically, we must ensure that the U.S. dollar remains the world's reserve currency."
"[W]e can usher in a new, more balanced era of prosperity that will lift up all Americans and rebuild communities and families across the country."
What to watch: Bessent is scheduled to appear before the Senate Finance committee at 10:30 a.m. ET.
John Ratcliffe— who is Trump's pick for CIA, and was director of national intelligence for the final months of Trump's first term — will rail against the politicization of the intelligence community during his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing today, a transition source tells Axios.
He'll vowto eliminate political biases and "wokeness" in the agency's workforce policies, and instead focus on "the mission."
Driving the news: Ratcliffe will portray tech as both a target (Where's China on hypersonics, quantum and AI?) and as a tool (How are analysts utilizing large language models and AI? How are spies beating ubiquitous technical surveillance?).
Ratcliffe thinks the agency — with a complex matrix of tech-focused directorates, mission centers and positions — has struggled to keep pace with the rapid technological advancements in the private sector.
He plans to accelerate efforts to coordinate with U.S. private-sector firms at the bleeding edge of technological advancement.
Ratcliffe will focus on China, as reported in a Wall Street Journal banger, "Trump's CIA Pick Expected to Push for Bare-Knuckle Spycraft Against China."
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's controversial pick for secretary of Defense, will have his confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Why it matters: The former Fox News host and Army combat veteran likely faces a tough hearing due to allegations against him ranging from sexual assault to excessive drinking. Axios has obtained a prepared text of his opening statement.
Read the statement in full:
Thank you Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Reed, and all members of this Committee for the opportunity today. I am grateful for, and learned a great deal from, this "advise and consent" process. Should I be confirmed, I look forward to working with this Committee — Senators from both parties — to secure our nation.
I want to thank the former Senator from Minnesota, Norm Coleman, for his mentorship and friendship in this process. And the incoming National Security Advisor, Congressman — and more importantly—Colonel Mike Waltz, for his powerful words. I am grateful for you both.
Thank you to my incredible wife Jennifer, who has changed my life and been with me throughout this entire process. I love you, sweetheart, and I thank God for you. And as Jenny and I pray together each morning, all glory — regardless of the outcome — belongs to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His grace and mercy abound each day. May His will be done.
Thank you to my father, Brian, and mother, Penny, as well as my entire family — including our seven wonderful kids: Gunner, Jackson, Peter Boone, Kenzie, Luke, Rex & Gwendolyn. Their future safety and security is in all our hands.
And to all the troops and veterans watching, and in this room — Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Pilots, Sailors, Marines, Gold Stars and more. Too many friends to name. Officers and Enlisted. Black and White. Young and Old. Men and Women. All Americans. All warriors. This hearing is for you. Thank you for figuratively, and literally, having my back. I pledge to do the same for you. All of you.
It is an honor to come before this Committee as President Donald Trump's nominee for the office of Secretary of Defense. Two months ago, 77 million Americans gave President Trump a powerful mandate for change. To put America First — at home and abroad.
I want to thank President Trump for his faith in me, and his selfless leadership of our great Republic. The troops could have no better Commander-in-Chief than Donald Trump.
As I've said to many of you in our private meetings, when President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was — to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense. He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser-focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That's it. That is my job.
To that end, if confirmed, I'm going to work with President Trump — and this committee — to:
Restore the Warrior Ethos to the Pentagon and throughout our fighting force; in doing so, we will reestablish trust in our military — and address the recruiting, retention and readiness crisis in our ranks. The strength of our military is our unity — our shared purpose — not our differences.
Rebuild our Military, always matching threats to capabilities; this includes reviving our defense industrial base, reforming the acquisition process (no more "Valley of Death" for new defense companies), modernizing our nuclear triad, ensuring the Pentagon can pass an audit, and rapidly fielding emerging technologies.
Reestablish Deterrence. First and foremost, we will defend our homeland — our borders and our skies. Second, we will work with our partners and allies to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific from the communist Chinese. Finally, we will responsibly end wars to ensure we can prioritize our resources — and reorient to larger threats. We can no longer count on "reputational deterrence" — we need real deterrence.
The Defense Department under Donald Trump will achieve Peace Through Strength. And in pursuing these America First national security goals, we will remain patriotically a-political and stridently Constitutional. Unlike the current administration, politics should play no part in military matters. We are not Republicans or Democrats — we are American warriors. Our standards will be high, and they will be equal (not equitable, that is a very different word).
We need to make sure every warrior is fully qualified on their assigned weapon system, every pilot is fully qualified and current on the aircraft they are flying, and every general or flag officer is selected for leadership based purely on performance, readiness, and merit.
Leaders — at all levels — will be held accountable. And warfighting and lethality — and the readiness of the troops and their families — will be our only focus.
That has been my focus ever since I first put on the uniform as a young Army ROTC cadet at Princeton University in 2001. I joined the military because I love my country and felt an obligation to defend it. I served with incredible Americans in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan and in the streets of Washington, D.C. — many of which are here today. This includes enlisted soldiers I helped become American citizens, and Muslim allies I helped immigrate from Iraq and Afghanistan. And when I took off the uniform, my mission never stopped.
It is true that I don't have a similar biography to Defense Secretaries of the last 30 years. But, as President Trump also told me, we've repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly "the right credentials" — whether they are retired generals, academics, or defense contractor executives — and where has it gotten us? He believes, and I humbly agree, that it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives.
My only special interest is — the warfighter. Deterring wars, and if called upon, winning wars — by ensuring our warriors never enter a fair fight. We let them win and then bring them home. Like many of my generation, I've been there. I've led troops in combat…been on patrol for days … pulled a trigger downrange … heard bullets whiz by … flex-cuffed insurgents … called in close air support … led medevacs … dodged IEDs … pulled out dead bodies … and knelt before a battlefield cross. This is not academic for me; this is my life. I led then, and I will lead now.
Ask anyone who has ever worked with me — or for me. I know what I don't know. My success as a leader … and I very much look forward to discussing our many successes at my previous organizations, Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. I'm incredibly proud of the work we did. My success as a leader … has always been setting a clear vision, hiring people smarter and more capable than me, empowering them to succeed, holding everyone accountable, and driving toward clear metrics. Build the plan. Work the plan. And then work harder than everyone around you.
The President has given me a clear vision, and I will execute. I've sworn an oath to the Constitution before, and — if confirmed — will proudly do it again. This time, for the most important deployment of my life.
I pledge to be a faithful partner to this committee. Taking input and respecting oversight. We share the same goals: a ready, lethal military; the health and well-being of our troops; and a strong and secure America.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your questions.
Pete Hegseth admits he's an unorthodox pick to lead the Pentagon — but says it's "time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm," according to his opening statement, obtained by Axios, for his confirmation hearing Tuesday.
Hegseth, one of President-elect Trump's most controversial Cabinet choices, plans to tell the Senate Armed Services Committee that he'll "[r]estore the warrior ethos to the Pentagon," give "new defense companies" a better chance to win contracts, and rapidly deploy emerging technologies.
Why it matters: Hegseth, 44 — a former Fox News host (where he made a little over $2 million a year) who's a decorated Army combat veteran — has faced a barrage of allegations since Trump announced the surprise selection. They include an accusation of sexual assault and allegations of excessive drinking. A seven-year-old email from his mom, which she quickly recanted, said he routinely mistreated women.
So Hegseth, who calls his selection for Defense secretary "the most important deployment of my life," can expect a grueling hearing: Republicans tell us they expect Democratic senators will try to embarrass him and Trump.
The hearing room will be jammed with supporters from all phases of Hegseth's life.
The big picture: The opening statement doesn't directly address the allegations. Hegseth says in his testimony: "It is true that I don't have a similar biography to Defense secretaries of the last 30 years."
"But, as President Trump also told me, we've repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly 'the right credentials' — whether they are retired generals, academics or defense contractor executives — and where has it gotten us?"
"He believes, and I humbly agree, that it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives."
Hegseth says his "only special interest is — the warfighter."
The backstory: Hegseth is "not pretending to be a standard issue SECDEF and wears that as a badge of honor," a source familiar with his thinking tells Axios.
"The standard-issue SECDEFs have degraded our readiness, our lethality and our ability to win wars. There's never been a singular focus on the warfighter, and that's why we're losing wars and deterrence capabilities."
Zoom in: Hegseth, a fierce DEI opponent, bluntly opposed women serving in combat roles in the military. But he softened that view during meetings with senators, saying he supports "all women serving in our military today."
Hegseth also has suggested that Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be fired over the Pentagon's efforts to diversify its ranks.
Brown and outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a decorated four-star general who also is Black, have rebuked the notion that the Pentagon has undermined its combat readiness with its focus on diversity.
"[W]e are American warriors," Hegseth says in his opening statement. "Our standards will be high, and they will be equal (not equitable, that is a very different word)," he continues.
"We need to make sure every warrior is fully qualified on their assigned weapon system, every pilot is fully qualified and current on the aircraft they are flying, and every general or flag officer is selected for leadership based purely on performance, readiness and merit."
Zoom out: Hegseth strikes an uncharacteristically humble, bipartisan tone in his opener, saying he looks "forward to working with this committee — senators from both parties — to secure our nation."
Hegseth — who became famous among conservatives as a "Fox & Friends Weekend" host, and is a bestselling author — is an Army veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, and earned two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman's Badge.
Between the lines: Hegseth, who's been married three times, portrays himself as a family man and devout Christian. He acknowledged in an interview with Megyn Kelly that he was a "serial cheater" before he found Christ.
"Thank you to my incredible wife Jennifer, who has changed my life and been with me throughout this entire process," his testimony says. "I love you, sweetheart, and I thank God for you. And as Jenny and I pray together each morning, all glory — regardless of the outcome — belongs to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. His grace and mercy abound each day. May His will be done."
Naming his "seven wonderful kids, Hegseth adds: "Their future safety and security is in all our hands."
Hegseth emphasizes his popularity with many in uniform, saluting "all the troops and veterans watching, and in this room — Navy SEALs, Green Berets, pilots, sailors, Marines, Gold Stars and more. Too many friends to name. Officers and enlisted. Black and white. Young and old. Men and women. All Americans. All warriors."
"This hearing is for you," he says. "Thank you for figuratively, and literally, having my back. I pledge to do the same for you. All of you."
"Restore the warrior ethos to the Pentagon and throughout our fighting force; in doing so, we will reestablish trust in our military — and address the recruiting, retention and readiness crisis in our ranks. The strength of our military is our unity — our shared purpose — not our differences."
"Rebuild our military, always matching threats to capabilities; this includes reviving our defense industrial base, reforming the acquisition process (no more 'Valley of Death' for new defense companies), modernizing our nuclear triad ... and rapidly fielding emerging technologies."
"Reestablish deterrence. First and foremost, we will defend our homeland ... Second, we will work with our partners and allies to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific from the communist Chinese. Finally, we will responsibly end wars to ensure we can prioritize our resources — and reorient to larger threats. We can no longer count on 'reputational deterrence' — we need real deterrence."
In a dig at the Biden administration, Hegseth vows that the Defense Department under Trump "will achieve peace through strength" and "will remain patriotically apolitical and stridently constitutional. Unlike the current administration."
"Leaders — at all levels — will be held accountable. And warfighting and lethality — and the readiness of the troops and their families — will be our only focus."
"That has been my focus ever since I first put on the uniform as a young Army ROTC cadet at Princeton University in 2001," Hegseth adds. "I served with incredible Americans in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan and in the streets of Washington, D.C."
"This includes enlisted soldiers I helped become American citizens, and Muslim allies I helped immigrate from Iraq and Afghanistan. And when I took off the uniform, my mission never stopped."
Why it matters: Meta did this with a methodical striptease over nine days, capturing massive public and MAGA attention.
"This is speaking Trump's love language," a transition source told us.
Zuckerberg had been considering some of the moves for years. Almost all had been in the works for months. But sources tell us Meta deliberately packaged them all up for detonation over nine days to maximize the pop for Trump.
"It's hard to break through in this media environment," said a source familiar with the strategy. "It sends a signal."
Announce your philosophical change on Fox News, hoping Trump is watching. In this case, he was. "Meta, Facebook, I think they've come a long way," Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference, adding of Kaplan's appearance on the "Fox and Friends" curvy couch: "The man was very impressive."
Between the lines: Love it or hate it, the strategy seemed to work brilliantly. Trump praised Meta. Rogan hailed Zuck.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who has aggressively investigated Big Tech, said he hopes other companies "follow the lead of X and Meta in upholding freedom of speech online."
Behind the scenes: After visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November, Zuckerberg decided to relax Meta's speech policies and "asked a small team to carry out his goals within weeks," The New York Times reported.
Knowing the change would be contentious, Zuckerberg "assembled a team of no more than a dozen close advisers and lieutenants, including Joel Kaplan ... Kevin Martin, the head of U.S. policy; and David Ginsberg, the head of communications. Mr. Zuckerberg insisted on no leaks," The Times added.
Zuckerberg was back at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, a day after taping with Rogan in Austin.
The big picture: Every company in America is watching. We can expect some to copy Zuckerberg — after Elon Musk showed the way.
Shifts this fast are rare. And rarely isolated.
What we're watching: Backlash — internal and external — is already brewing.
Training materials for Meta's new speech policies list examples of permissible attacks against various identity groups.
Roy Austin Jr., who built and led a small civil rights team inside Meta beginning in 2021, announced Friday he was leaving the company.
Biden criticized Zuckerberg's fact-checking reversal as "shameful" at a new conference Friday.
The bottom line: Alex Bruesewitz — CEO of X Strategies LLC, and trusted adviser to the Trump campaign on alternative media — told us companies are either "a. Finally recognizing that 'wokeness' is a cancer, or b. Strategically adapting to the political climate and pandering to Republicans now that we are in power."
"Only time will tell which is the true motivation," Bruesewitz said. "Regardless, MAGA is winning and will continue to win!"
Ian Bremmer,in his closely watched annual risk forecast, warns that the world has entered "a uniquely dangerous period of world history, on par with only the 1930s and the early Cold War."
The big picture: "People everywhere are facing heightened geopolitical instability driven by a lack of global leadership," writes Bremmer, the president and founder of Eurasia Group, in its "Top Risks 2025" report.
"We are heading back to the law of the jungle, where the strongest do what they can, while the weakest are condemned to suffer what they must."
Zoom in: Topping the list out Monday is the arrival of GZERO — the global order "slipping away."
"No single power or group of powers is willing or able to set a global agenda. It's a world of many pretenders, but no leaders."
The report's other top risks are:
2. The Rule of Don
3. U.S.-China breakdown
4. Trumponomics
5. Russia still rogue
6. Beggar thy world
7. Iran on the ropes
8. Mexican standoff
9. Ungoverned spaces
10. AI unbound
Flashback: Bremmer's group ranked "The United States vs. itself" as the No. 1 risk heading into last year, a nod to the high stakes 2024 election.
President-elect Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) plan to push for what could wind up as the biggest bill in American history — a mega-MAGA reordering of taxes, the nation's borders, federal spending and regulations, transition and Hill sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: Washington will soon witness a furious, multitrillion-dollar legislative and lobbying fight that likely will dominate politics through late spring and possibly beyond.
At stake: Unprecedented spending to tighten borders and remove people here illegally, huge tax cuts, energy deregulation — plus, presumably, unprecedented spending cuts to help pay for it all.
We're told the bill will include Trump's popular "no tax on tips" campaign promise. Raising the federal debt ceiling could be included.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates extending the tax cuts from Trump's first term could cost $5 trillion over 10 years.
So look for a conservative push for significant spending offsets. Senate Republicans have already been busy finding ways to pay for parts of the plan via spending cuts + energy revenue.
Between the lines: Each piece is complicated and costly on its own. Rolling it all into one fat package is unlike anything Washington has done before.
The margin of error is so slim: As Friday's chaotic House speaker election showed, just a handful of House Republicans can sink any bill. The GOP margin will soon shrink temporarily to zero.
Republicans, who'll control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in 15 days, initially were inclined to split up the border and tax packages into a two-track process.
In mid-December, the hard-right House Freedom Caucus sent Johnson a letter insisting on two bills: "border security must move first — and then we should move forward to a second, larger reconciliation bill covering taxes, spending, energy, bureaucracy, and more."
The one-track plan is based on the calculation that one big, Trump-branded bill has a better chance of passage than splitting it up. "It motivates people to vote for it," a transition source tells us.
Behind the scenes: The strategy was hotly debated — and only crystallized during a New Year's Day meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Trump, Vice President-elect Vance, Johnson and aides, the sources tell us.
Both the Trump and Johnson teams made sure each has buy-in.
At the New Year's meeting, the group hashed out pros and cons: Split bills could mean a quick, flashy win on the border. But one bill would give Johnson leverage to force his conference's warring factions to all come to the table.
In a split scenario, hardliners might insist on passing a border bill, before they discuss raising or eliminating the cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes (SALT). Members from high-tax states might do the opposite.
The logic: We're told Johnson thinks you can squeeze members harder to pass a single "Trump bill" than one-offs.
The speaker figures that in a big deal, even though everyone will find something not to like, there'll be too much to love.
State of play: The bill would use the budget reconciliation process, which allows budget-related bills to bypass the Senate's 60-vote filibuster. So only a simple majority is needed.
On Saturday, the day after his dramatic re-election as speaker, Johnson unveiled the plan for a unified reconciliation bill to House Republicans during a closed-door policy retreat at Fort McNair in Washington. Channeling Trumpian lingo, Johnson has called it "one big, beautiful bill."
"I want to compliment the Trump administration and the team. They've worked so well with us," Johnson told his members, in comments reported by Punchbowl and confirmed by Axios.
What we're hearing: Some Senate Republicans are frustrated by the turn toward a single bill. So the conversation may not be over.
A big concern among Senate Republicans is that one bill would take too long: They worry they won't be able to move fast enough to secure the border, opening them up to criticism, sources tell us.
Reality check: This is all easier said than done. Every faction within the GOP, and every powerful donor and industry, will want their hobby horse in this bill.
The bottom line: This is likely to take longer than the storied 100 days, which will end April 30. The most optimistic timeline for mega-bill passage is late spring (April or May) — which really means June, and could even take until fall.
Why it matters: The donation reflects a long, collaborative relationship between Trump and Cook that included many meetings during Trump's first term, and dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month.
Between the lines: Cook, a proud Alabama native, believes the inauguration is a great American tradition, and is donating to the inauguration in the spirit of unity, the sources said. The company is not expected to give.
Cook, with a consistent presence in Washington, has made it clear over the years that he believes in participation, not sitting on the sidelines, and engaging with policymakers from both sides of the aisle.
Apple, a huge contributor to the U.S. economy, is the largest taxpayer in the U.S. and the world.
The backstory: A front-page story in The Wall Street Journal shortly after the election, headlined "How Tim Cook Cracked the Code on Working With Trump," noted that the Apple CEO spent years building personal rapport with Trump.
Cook "developed a meeting strategy with Trump where he would bring one data point to home in on a single issue in a meeting," The Journal reported. "That approach helped keep the meetings from spiraling in too many directions."
Zoom in: A Trump financial disclosure form released just after he left office reported that Cook once gave the president a $5,999 Mac Pro computer made at an Austin factory the two toured in 2019.
Cook also has met with Trump at Trump Tower and at his club in Bedminster, N.J.
Axios is told Elon Musk joined part of the Mar-a-Lago dinner.
Zoom out: Other Silicon Valley inauguration donors include Amazon, Meta, Uber and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Wall Street's seven-figure donors include Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, while crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase are also getting in on the action.
Toyota, Ford and GM are all also donating at least $1 million.
Flags of the Sugar Bowl teams — Georgia and Notre Dame — flutter on Bourbon Street as investigators work on New Year's Day. Photo: Michael DeMocker/Getty Images
Seven hours and two time zones apart,the New Year's Day pickup-truck attack in New Orleans and Tesla Cybertruck bomb in Las Vegas meant a violent, frightening start to 2025.
The big picture: President Biden said in televised remarks last evening that law enforcement officers were investigating whether there was "any possible connection": "Thus far, there's nothing to report on that."
Driving the news: In what could be either a coincidence or a systemic vulnerability, both vehicles were rented through Turo, a "peer-to-peer" vehicle-sharing app where renters connect directly with owners.
"The conceptis similar to Airbnb, in that customers can rent a specific car make and model and coordinate pickup and drop-off with the car owner," the N.Y. Times explains.
Turo saidit's working with law enforcement: "We do not believe that either renter had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat, and we are not currently aware of any information that indicates the two incidents are related."
The Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame, originally scheduled for last night in New Orleans, was postponed to 4 pm ET Thursday.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell — with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) at her right elbow — speaks to the media yesterday, surrounded by officials involved in the investigation. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Biden said during his remarks that Shamsud-Din Jabbar — the deceased 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran suspected of the New Orleans attack, which the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism — "posted videos to social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill."
The suspect was killed in a firefight with police. The death toll rose to 15 people, with at least 35 injured.
"I knowwhile this person committed a terrible assault on this city, the spirit of New Orleans will never, never be defeated," Biden said.
Catch up quick: Photos showthe truck crashed into construction equipment just short of the Royal Sonesta hotel at 300 Bourbon St.,reportsAxios New Orleans' Chelsea Brasted.
An ISIS flag was found inside the truck, as well as multiple weapons and a "potential" IED, the FBI said.
When Jabbar exited the truck, he began shooting and three NOPD officers returned fire, police said.
Major energy companies doubled down on oil and gas in 2024, slowing down — and at times reversing — climate commitments, in a shift they're likely to stick with in 2025.
Why it matters: Big European energy companies that invested heavily in the clean energy transition found their stocks lagging U.S. rivals Exxon and Chevron, which kept their focus on oil and gas, Reuters reports.
BP and Shell this year sharply slowed their plans to spend billions on wind and solar power projects and shifted spending to higher-margin oil and gas projects.
Between the lines: The big oil companies are focused on meeting customer demand and maximizing shareholder value, per Axios' Andrew Freedman. That has led them to focus more on their core fossil fuel businesses at a time of geopolitical strife.
They haven't abandoned their forays into cleaner fuels, including through investments in climate tech companies.
But some of their investments, including bets on hydrogen fuels, haven't panned out — reinforcing their pivot back to what they do best.
Reality check: Doubling down on fossil fuels complicates global efforts to meet the Paris climate targets, which the oil majors have committed to.
The bottom line: Oil companies this year were profitable — but not as profitable as in recent record years, when there were higher oil prices.
Nothing revs up MAGA like the chance to dunk on DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion.
DEI-bashing is the core of the "anti-woke" theology. MAGA warriors want a true color/gender-blind meritocracy, they say.
Why it matters: MAGA's DEI unity has hit a big snag. Elon Musk — a MAGA fanboy and fav until this past week — and others on X are arguing forcefully that in a true meritocracy, you'd pick harder-working foreigners for high-skilled gigs over less-qualified Americans.
Steve Bannon and many MAGA originals consider this apostasy —basically another high-end, rich-guy way to screw the working-class voters behind the Donald Trump movement.
Welcome to the new frontier of the DEI.
Musk tweeted Friday: "The point was not to replace DEI, which is one form of racism/sexism, with a different form of racism/sexism, but rather to be a meritocratic society!"
The big picture: N.Y. Times columnist David Brooks points out this isn't a "discrete one-off dispute."
"This is the kind of core tension you get in your party when you do as Trump has done: taken a dynamic, free-market capitalist party and infused it with protective, backward-looking, reactionary philosophy," Brooks writes.
"We're going to see this kind of dispute also when it comes to economic regulation, trade, technology policy, labor policy, housing policy and so on."
The latest: Musk vowed last night to "go to war" to defend the H-1B visa program for foreign tech workers, branding some Republican opponents as "hateful, unrepentant racists," Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes.
President-elect Trump backs H-1B visas, siding with Elon Musk after the tech billionaire pledged to go to "war" to defend the program and branded GOP opponents "hateful, unrepentant racists."
Why it matters: The MAGA-DOGE civil war that erupted over the last 48 hours has now come to a tipping point, with Trump's new techno-libertarian coalition of billionaires taking full aim at his traditional base.
Trump's support for the controversial visas is the first sign of his picking sides between his richest and most powerful advisors on one hand, and the people who swept him to office on the other.
The latest: The president-elect told the New York Post on Saturday he has "always liked the visas."
"I have many H-1B visas on my properties," he said of the program for highly-skilled, foreign workers. "I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program."
Reality check: Trump pledged to end the program in 2016.
"The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay," he said.
He added he was "totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse."
Late in Trump's first term, his administration moved to tighten rules around eligible jobs and wages, though the program largely remained intact otherwise.
Catch up quick: The MAGA-DOGE skirmishes started last Sunday, with anti-immigration and anti-Indian vitriol against Trump's pick of venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his AI advisor.
It escalated into full conflict Thursday when Musk ally and DOGE co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy took to X to blast American "mediocrity" culture. Musk defended Ramaswamy, and the two sides started engaging in an increasingly bitter war of words.
On Friday afternoon, Musk doubled down, saying MAGA adherents who continued to blast immigration and the tech community were "contemptible fools," later clarifying he was talking about "racists" who would "absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed."
Zoom in: Just before midnight Friday, Musk once again defended the H-1B program in vulgar, all-caps terms, saying the program was the key to the success of his (and other big American) companies.
"Take a big step back and F--K YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend," Musk wrote.
In a separate post, he pledged to "fight to my last drop of blood" to keep America a meritocracy.
What they're saying: As with Musk's previous posts defending Ramaswamy and condemning his opponents, Trump supporters did not react well to Musk's promise to defend the H-1B program.
"May God bless and protect President Trump from these people," outspoken right-wing commentator Laura Loomer wrote, after accusing Musk of trying to censor her.
The intrigue: Though Trump has been mostly quiet on the matter, those around him have started showing their hands.
Michael Seifert, the CEO of online marketplace Public Square, whose board of directors includes Donald Trump Jr., took to social media Friday to say the H-1B program was "destroying the lives of American workers."
Steve Bannon, one of the longest-tenured voices in Trump's orbit, had multiple guests on his show this week to talk about his hardline anti-H-1B views.
Bannon tells Axios he helped kick off the debate with a now-viral Gettr post earlier this month calling out a lack of support for the Black and Hispanic communities in Big Tech.
On Saturday Bannon called Musk a "toddler" in a Gettr post, and in another post accused him and Ramaswamy of attacking American workers, families and culture.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional statements and context.
The media, our social media feeds and our most pessimistic friends fill us with doom and gloom stories. But by many measures, there's never been a better time to be alive in America.
Why it matters: Yes, bad people are always doing bad things for bad reasons. It's called life. This column focuses on the Good Stuff: the undeniable trends that reveal a distinct edge for America, young people and this moment.
When your boozy uncle goes dark today, remind him and others:
There's no better place to start a business and rise to unthinkable heights doing what you choose to do. We have the best hospitals, colleges and technology centers.
You can think, say and worship as you please without fear of imprisonment. Faith might be fading, but the ability to practice it is unfettered.
The United States has the world's strongest military. We enjoy peace with our neighbors and the protection of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Our military is both the most feared — and most sought-after by other nations for assistance.
We're blessed with abundant natural resources — we can produce enough energy from the ground and skies to power ourselves for generations. In just eight years, the U.S. "has rocketed from barely selling any gas overseas to becoming the world's No. 1 supplier" — bolstering the economy and strengthening American influence abroad. (N.Y. Times)
We're still the place where people want to risk their lives to come live, work and raise a family.
The greatest inventions come from the magical animal spirits of American capitalism: freedom and entrepreneurial zest — hardwired into our souls and our national story. We enjoy a massive early lead to build the next great technology: generative artificial intelligence.
And Jim's favorite: Most people are normal. They don't watch cable food fights, or dunk on people on X, or say or do nasty things to others. They work hard, volunteer, help you shovel in a storm.
The bottom line: We're blessed, this and every holiday season, to have smart, engaged, thoughtful readers who trust us — and remind us when we fall short. Enjoy your family. Enjoy the holidays. Enjoy America.
With 28 full days left in office, President Bidenannounced Monday he is commuting the sentences for 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life without possibility of parole.
The big picture: Biden promised to abolish federal use of the death penalty when he campaigned for the White House in 2020.
Monday's move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities, AP reports.
What he's saying: "Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss," Biden said in a statement. "But guided by my conscience and my experience, ... I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level."
In a jabat President-elect Trump, Biden added: "In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."
Between the lines: Three federal inmates still face execution.
Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who helped carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which left three dead and scores injured.
Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Zoom in: Earlier this year,Biden's Justice Department asked a federal judge to impose the death penalty for the first time in a new case.
The request was for Payton Gendron, the white gunman who killed 10 Black people in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
New York doesn't have the death penalty, but the federal government has jurisdiction to seek the punishment with federal interest and alleged violations of federal statutes, the Death Penalty Information Center said in January.
Context: Biden in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used.
There were 13 federal executions during Trump's first term, more than under any president in modern history.
Biden this month faced sharp criticism, including from Democrats, after pardoning his son, Hunter Biden. He faced sentencing after being convicted of felony gun charges and pleading guilty to felony tax charges.
Monday's announcement comes after recent pressure from advocacy groups urging Biden to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates.
PHOENIX — Five hundred fans of Charlie Kirk — the 31-year-old founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, the MAGA-verse's biggest outside group — broke into applause Saturday as Kirk welcomed former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to the stage for a taping of "The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast.
"I wish they were all members of the United States Senate," Gaetz joshed, a month after withdrawing as President-elect Trump's choice for attorney general, and with release expected imminently of a House Ethics Committee report on his conduct.
"I think they want you to be pope!" Kirk quipped.
"I'm a Baptist!" Gaetz replied.
Why it matters: Kirk is one of the biggest winners of November's election who wasn't on the ballot. He'll introduce Trump today as the climactic guest of Turning Point's annual AmericaFest. This year's victory-lap edition is a triumphalist, four-day MAGAstock that drew 21,000 Trump diehards, many in college, to the desert the weekend before Christmas.
Kirk, who caught snippets of college football playoff games backstage, is the boyish, often controversial leader of a MAGA army that will:
Bring grassroots pressure on Republican senators to confirm all Trump nominees. "Confirm the Mandate" is how Turning Point Action, Kirk's political arm, puts it.
Insist GOP lawmakers hew the Trump line. In a tectonic change for the right, Turning Point is happy to be as combative with Republicans as with Democrats.
Push Trumpers nationwide to act on Elon Musk's insistence, which Kirk repeated onstage, that everyday users of X "are the media now."
Between the lines: It's all backed by a vast network of friendly podcasts, dozens of which are taping here on elaborate sets that sometimes even include teleprompters. "Media Row" is actually two huge wings of the Phoenix Convention Center atrium.
Kirk is close to Trump, Vice President-elect Vance, Don Jr. and Tucker Carlson. During the election, Turning Point Action launched a high-risk, high-reward "Chase the Vote" turnout operation for Trump — and won big.
Kirk has become one of the most popular pitchmen for products aimed at "patriots": "Use promo code KIRK today." At the Gaetz taping, audience members had to show proof of membership in "Charlie Kirk Exclusive," the podcast's paid tier.
A cardboard cutout of Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center. Photo: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
Turning Point USA has 1,000+ college chapters and 1,200 high school chapters — plus a presence at 3,500+ other colleges and high schools (not yet school-sanctioned, but in the process of trying to get recognized).
The big picture: This year's AmFest has "an air not only of celebration but muscle-flexing," The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Zitner writes.
"Trump's frequent appearances on podcasts, a medium suited to his freewheeling, off-the-cuff banter, wasn't only credited here with drawing young and minority voters to the GOP but with validating the power of new media platforms."
What's next: During an onstage parade of fire-and-brimstone pastors last night at AmFest's "Faith Night," Kirk warned attendees to arrive as early as 6:30 a.m. to get a seat for Trump's 10:30 a.m. speech. Kirk quipped: "I have a feeling the college kids are not gonna go to sleep tonight!"
Kara Swisher, the popular podcaster and pioneering tech journalist, is trying to round up a group of rich people to fund a bid for the Washington Post, she told us.
One big problem: Jeff Bezos, the owner, has shown no interest in selling.
Why it matters: Swisher — who started in the Post mailroom, and became an early tech reporter at the paper (and later one of the first at The Wall Street Journal) — believes the Amazon founder will eventually want to sell, since the paper has become a managerial nightmare.
Like many, Swisher thinks Bezos should sell since he has other financial and personal interests — like space tech — that are more important to him, and can conflict with his Post ownership.
"The Post can do better," she told us. "It's so maddening to see what's happening. ... Why not me? Why not any of us?"
The backstory: Oliver Darcy reported this fall in his newsletter, Status, that Swisher was "interested in assembling a consortium of wealthy investors to make a bid for the paper."
Since then, a banker who worked with Swisher in the past has been helping her think through how to move the idea forward.
The storied paper would be run by a board of civic-minded people willing to write a big check to be part of something important. She'd be open to Bezos remaining a partial investor.
In Swisher's recent memoir, "Burn Book," she recalled imploring former Post publisher Don Graham to pay more attention to the coming digital revolution.
She's busy as a CNN contributor, host of the "Pivot" podcast with Scott Galloway and her solo "On with Kara Swisher," and editor-at-large for New York Magazine.
But she has ideas for innovative people who could energize the newsroom, and move the business side toward break-even.
The bottom line: Swisher is confident the money is there. But Bezos would have to want to sell. And she notes there would surely be a long line of other suitors, including giant private equity firms and other power-minded billionaires.
"Hopefully not Elon," Swisher added, "though he seems pretty busy these days being President (Not) Elect."
🔎 Between the lines: The paper's great quest for an executive editor, once Ben Bradlee's job, has ended with a whimper.
Matt Murray, originally named to the job through the election, on Thursday announced the newly formed masthead position of standards editor — to be held by Karen Pensiero, who worked for Murray as a managing editor when he was editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal.
The appointment was intended to signal Murray is there to stay after a high-profile external search.
