China's Significant, Semi-expected Slowdown

President-elect Donald Trump told the New York Post he supports immigration visas for highly skilled workers, appearing to side with Elon Musk in the roiling intra-MAGA debate on the issue. Said Trump: “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them.” He added: “I have many H-1B visas on my properties.

“A federal judge is signaling that Rudy Giuliani’s contempt hearing next Friday might not end so well for the former New York City mayor and onetime personal lawyer for President-elect Donald Trump as two Georgia election poll workers try to collect a $148 million defamation award they won against him,” the AP reports.

Steve Bannon slammed Elon Musk as the tech billionaire doubled down on his views on H-1B work visas and his criticisms of American workers. Said Bannon: “Someone please notify ‘Child Protective Services’— need to do a ‘wellness check’ on this toddler.”

“Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election – despite negative poll indications,” The Guardian reports.

“Elon Musk reiterated his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, in an opinion piece published by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper less than two months before Germans go to the polls,” Bloomberg reports. Wrote Musk: “The AfD, even though it is described as far-right, represents a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel their concerns are ignored by the establishment.

White House National Security communications adviser John Kirby said Russia was treating North Korean troops as “expendable” by sending them on impractical ground operations in its war against Ukraine, The Hill reports. Said Kirby: “It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses.”