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Washington Post: “Biden and his aides have concluded that they have few ways to block President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to upend agencies and shatter norms, but there is one big thing they can do: focus their final weeks on getting billions of dollars out the door to finish implementing Biden’s signature pieces of legislation.”

Just published: Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021 by former German chancellor Angela Merkel.

“This is good, actually. She barely shows up and doesn’t do the reading. To borrow a phrase I saw elsewhere, it’s like giving someone an unplugged controller.”
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), commenting on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) chairing a new subcommittee on government efficiency.

Peter Baker: “On the night he won a second term, President-elect Donald Trump rejoiced in the moment. ‘America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,’ he boasted. In the two weeks since, his campaign has repeatedly heralded his ‘landslide,’ even to market Trump merchandise like the ‘Official Trump Victory Glass.'”

The quick demise of Matt Gaetz’s nomination to be attorney general is proof that politics isn’t broken.
Republican senators must still answer to the voters and were unwilling to put their reputations on the line for the scandal-ridden Gaetz.

Adam Serwer: “Members of Donald Trump’s inner circle understandably wish to interpret the election results as a mandate for the most extreme right-wing policies, which include conducting mass deportations and crushing their political enemies.”
“But how many Trump supporters think that’s what they voted for?”

“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to rebuff the prospect of reviving his nuclear diplomacy with President-elect Donald Trump,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

After leading an unsuccessful effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) plans to support his reelection as speaker next year, Punchbowl News reports.
The support from Greene is just the latest sign that Johnson is likely to encounter little Republican resistance in his quest for 218 votes on the House floor on Jan. 3.

Democratic pollster Nick Gourevitch told the Washington Post that Kamala Harris lost the presidential election because of overwhelming voter concerns about the economy and inflation.
Said Gourevitch: “To be honest, if you ever did a focus group with anybody over the last year, it is the first thing that comes up every single time.”

Bluesky, an alternative to Elon Musk’s X, saw downloads rise by 430% during election week, Axios reports.
Follow Political Wire on Bluesky at @politicalwire.com.