Link to full morning briefing
Mike Allen with Noah Bressner orchestrating. Copy edited by Bryan McBournie.
1 big thing: Musk’s America
- Why it matters: This much power, across this many pillars of society, is without precedent. Musk yesterday single-handedly, his voice amplified by his daylong bombardment of scores of tweets on his X platform, sank a 1,547-page, bipartisan House spending bill aimed at preventing a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
? It’s a breathtaking preview of the new power centers that will rewire Washington beginning with Trump’s inauguration 32 days from now.
- A Trump source told us this is the new playbook: Republican lawmakers got “instant and overwhelming feedback. Before, it had to be slowly funneled through conservative press … [N]ow there is a megaphone.”
2. ? Rubio’s toughest task
3. ?️ Brands go niche
4. ⏱️ First look: Mossad’s pager secrets
5. ?️ “Age of Trump”
6. ? Quote du jour: Rahm talks voter rage
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