This week’s podcast…
The editors of the Washington Post (owned by Jeff Bezos) refused to run this cartoon by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes. She resigned. See her work now at www.anntelnaes.com

For Donald Trump, this really is a Dickensian week: these are the best of times and the worst of times. Even as his second-chance administration falls into place, Trump officially became a convicted felon, and the case of his insurrection-related crimes is now a part of the public record (despite the best efforts of his “crack” legal team).

President Biden echoed the warnings of Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell address, but will it have an impact on the oligarchs who are running the Trump-Musk administration? 

Trump’s clown cabinet nominees have begun the sham hearing process in the Senate with the prospect that Fox News will be seeing a lot of former staffers moving into the most powerful jobs in America.

We are recording on Thursday. Mark is in Detroit for today’s Democratic National Committee forum featuring would-be leaders of the DNC. We’ll do a little time shifting and get his thoughts when the forum wraps up.

The Biden speech isn’t the only politically significant speech on our radar. Governor Whitmer gave the keynote address at the Detroit Auto Show, a speech which may be a preview of the Whitmer for President campaign in 2028.

And Republicans are heaping tragedy on top of catastrophe by politicizing the L.A. fires even as tens of thousands are homeless and the southern California economy is literally reduced to ashes.

Some of the other stories that caught our eye this week:

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• Trump Said He’d Solve Ukraine on Day One. Republicans Say He Didn’t Mean ‘Day One.’ – NOTUS (Allbritton Journalism Institute)
  
• Trump tax cuts, if made permanent, stand to benefit highest income earners, Treasury analysis shows – AP News
  
• Aaron Rupar on X: “SLOTKIN: Do you agree that there are some orders that could be given by the commander in chief that could violate the US Constitution? HEGSETH: I reject the premise that President Trump is gonna be giving illegal orders” / X
  
• Trump’s Defense Pick Proudly Admits the Rules Won’t Apply to Him – The New Republic
  
• Opinion | Republicans in North Carolina Are Treading a Terrifying Path – Frank Bruni/The New York Times $$
  
• Why Costco Isn’t Joining the Backlash Against DEI – Wall Street Journal
  
• The critical question Pete Hegseth dodged in his confirmation hearing – MSNBC
  
• Slotkin, Peters hammer Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon at Senate hearing – Detroit News
  
• Pam Bondi doesn’t rule out probes of Trump foes as attorney general – AP News
  
• Suddenly Donald Trump doesn’t want to talk so much about the economy – MSNBC
  
• Pay for Play: You won’t believe all the powerful people I met as a special guest of President-elect Trump – Kevin O’Leary via Daily Mail Online
  

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