What we’re watching 👀

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Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

🗓️ What we’re watching

  • Donald Trump is heading into 2025 with imperialism on the brain, but Republicans are mostly writing the president-elect’s overtures off as saber-rattling. It’s an approach that sometimes helped Trump get what he wanted out of allies and adversaries during his first term, Myah Ward reports.
  • A Christmas Day social media brawl between Trump’s backers in Silicon Valley and the MAGA base highlighted the looming battle facing the incoming White House and Congress over high-skilled immigration. But the online blowup suggests immigration hard-liners won’t surrender easily to Trump’s new tech friends, Brendan Bordelon reports.
  • House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) is raising doubts about whether Speaker Mike Johnson can pass Trump’s agenda. “We do need to consider whether — if we’re going to advance Mr. Trump’s agenda — whether the current leadership is what we need,” Harris told Fox Business. 

👀 What’s Trump up to?

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

  • William Webster, the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA, wrote in a letter to senators that neither Kash Patel nor Tulsi Gabbard meet the demands of top intelligence jobs. He urged senators to “weigh the critical importance of nonpartisan leadership and experience.”