The Caucus: The Weekend Word: Second Look

“Elon and I disagree on some things, but Elon deserves his place at the table. He stroked a $150 million check for the ground game, which is not sexy, at the exact moment we needed it. He came in with the money and the professionals. To be brutally frank, it’s the reason we won.” — Steve Bannon, in an interview with Puck.

“Democrats suffered a knockout punch in this month’s elections. New Jersey’s and Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial elections in 2025 offer them their first chances to get off the mat,” ABC News reports. “Both states have become reliably blue in federal races, but President-elect Donald Trump narrowed his margins in each state, and Democrats are unable to take anything for granted as they undergo a postelection reckoning over their national brand.

ProPublica: “If Trump were to assert a power to kill congressionally approved programs, it would almost certainly tee up a fight in the federal courts and Congress and, experts say, could fundamentally alter Congress’ bedrock power.”

“North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday vetoed a Hurricane Helene relief bill that also included sweeping changes to the power and authority structures for several state leaders and agencies,” the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Playbook: “Republicans can still override Cooper’s veto, but they have no wiggle room, and the outcome looks uncertain.”

“President-elect Donald Trump’s team is discussing pursuing direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, hoping a fresh diplomatic push can lower the risks of armed conflict,“ Reuters reports. “Several in Trump’s team now see a direct approach from Trump, to build on a relationship that already exists, as most likely to break the ice with Kim, years after the two traded insults and what Trump called ‘beautiful’ letters in an unprecedented diplomatic effort during his first term in office.”

Benjamin Wallace-Wells: “New research suggests that the Democrats’ struggles in communities battling fentanyl addiction had little to do with economic theory or messaging — it was, more simply, a failure of political attention.”