Doge Day Afternoon

However you reacted (ranging from throwing up a little in your mouth to projectile vomiting all over your laptop) to the scene of Biden welcoming Trump back to the Oval Office for a post-election visit, it’s the last presidential norm or act of decency you’re going to see for a long time. Meanwhile, the new administration continues to take shape. So far, the nomination that has basically shocked everyone (even insiders) and drew a one word response from Sen Lisa Murkowski (“Wow.”) is Pete Hegseth (of Fox & Friends) as Secretary of Defense.

+ Here’s quite the headline from Wired: Donald Trump’s New ‘Border Czar’ Defended Child Separation at Festival Held by Gun-Worshipping Sect.

+ “Musk has adopted the nickname ‘DOGE’ for the commission, a reference to a meme-based cryptocurrency he also touted.” WaPo (Gift Article): Trump taps Musk, Ramaswamy to oversee ‘drastic’ changes to U.S. government.

+ Senate Republicans choose John Thune to replace Mitch McConnell as majority leader. (FWIW, Thune is more into things like free trade and supporting Ukraine than the others in the running.) And Trump has backed Mike Johnson to remain Speaker. Yes, the GOP has officially held onto the House majority.

+ Paul Rosenzweig in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Pardon Trump’s Critics Now. “Over the past several years, courageous Americans have risked their careers and perhaps even their liberty in an effort to stop Donald Trump’s return to power. Our collective failure to avoid that result now gives Trump an opportunity to exact revenge on them. President Joe Biden, in the remaining two months of his term in office, can and must prevent this by using one of the most powerful tools available to the president: the pardon power.”