Morning Report — Treasury choice touts Trumponomics 

In today’s issue:  

• Treasury nominee Bessent a shoo-in
• Trump’s foreign policy steps into unstable world
• Gaza truce back on track
• Inauguration Day primer

President-elect Trump won the November election with bold economic promises embraced by an electorate ready to hold him responsible if prices don’t ease, job prospects aren’t rosier and if Americans don’t cheer up.

Knowing he has a year or two to deliver, Trump took his time last year before naming hedge fund billionaire and political donor Scott Bessent as his choice to carry out his mix-and-match vision for tariffs, tax cuts, reduced federal spending, inflation relief, expanded U.S. growth and faith in Wall Street. 

The president-elect wants Bessent, his pick to lead the Treasury Department, to be a top emissary with the divisive Congress, the Federal Reserve, big investors and among global partners and adversaries, including China and Russia.

It’s worth noting that Trump’s Treasury secretary in his first term, Steven Mnuchin, an investment banker and film producer, served four years and sailed past many of the dramas that blew through the Oval Office and the halls of Congress. 

Bessent on Thursday carefully moved through Trump’s basic economic playbook during confirmation questioning by members of the Senate Finance Committee. He deferred to Trump’s signature themes and promised to provide advice to his boss.

The Wall Street Journal: Treasury secretary pick says Trump could bring “new economic golden age.” 

Bessent, displaying the polite demeanor he learned in his home state of South Carolina, pledged to defer to Congress for its expertise, such as budgeting. He dodged specifics when possible and vowed to do more research, on health care, for instance.

Bessent will be confirmed by the Senate. His commitments Thursday carefully tracked Trump’s.

“We don’t have a revenue problem,” he said. “We have a spending problem.”  

Bessent said he would be “100 percent on board” with increasing sanctions on Russia’s major oil companies. He wants to see the 2017 GOP tax law renewed before it expires this year. He said he’s committed to the needs of farmers, the tax challenges of small businesses and he wants Treasury workers to abandon teleworking and show up in their offices. The nominee challenged a suggestion that there is a “large motherlode” of wealthy tax cheats the IRS could identify with additional enforcement resources. He also suggested artificial intelligence and technology are the future on that score.

The Hill: Trump’s choice to lead the mammoth Department of Homeland Security, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), appears today before senators. She’ll be questioned about her immigration plans.

Kash Patel, Trump’s controversial choice to shake up the FBI as its next director, is getting a closer background scrubbing from Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, reports The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch. Ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has asked federal agencies that previously employed Patel to turn over specific information on possible misconduct, drawn from news reporting and detailed in writing. Patel’s confirmation hearing has not been scheduled. “Kash is proud of his service” at the Justice and Defense departments and in national intelligence “and looks forward to answering any of Senator Durbin’s questions at his confirmation hearing,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump spokesperson. 

▪ The Hill: Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), the president-elect’s onetime primary rival and now his pick for Interior secretary, sidestepped controversial Trump climate provisions during a largely cordial Senate hearing Thursday. 

▪ The Hill: Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a part of the government squarely in conservatives’ crosshairs this year, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) appeared during Senate questioning to be prepared to implement Trump’s deregulatory agenda — and on track for confirmation.

▪ The New York Times: Here are some of President Biden’s final actions in office to try to cement his legacy. Trump may undo them.

Senate addition: Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) will fill the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump’s pick to be secretary of State, announced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Thursday. Moody is expected to join the upper chamber next week and serve for at least two years.

Stormy House: Some Republican lawmakers are furious with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after he ousted one of their own, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), now the former chair of the Intelligence Committee. Erosion of trust within the GOP ranks is seen as injurious for the Speaker, whose legislative and political headaches are piling up, The Hill reports.

“It’s all happened under Johnson’s leadership,” said Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), referring to “too much disruption.”

SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN: 

Pete Hegseth. Pam Bondi. Scott Bessent. Marco Rubio.  

Those, of course, were some of the big names who appeared before Senate committees this week, as they will potentially (or likely) hold some of the top posts in the incoming Trump administration.  

But here’s a name I noticed: Kevin Warsh.  

Who? Well, he just might be the guy Trump taps to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve next year. Warsh, who was a member of the central bank’s governing board until 2011, made a case for lowering interest rates in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published this week. That topic, we know, is a sweet spot for the former builder turned president.  

Keep an eye on what Warsh says in the upcoming months. By the way, mortgage rates hit an eight-month high on Thursday.  

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. The Hill & NewsNation are owned by Nexstar Media Group.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ Biden announced today that he would commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses. The move is the broadest commutation of individual sentences ever issued by a U.S. president.

▪ Will Trump rescind this? Biden issued an executive order on Thursday requiring software companies selling their product to the federal government to prove they included ironclad security features to thwart Chinese intelligence agencies, Russian ransomware gangs, North Korean cryptocurrency thieves and Iranian spies. 

▪ During his final TV interview as president, Biden told MSNBC Thursday he focused on policy and perhaps spent “not enough time” on politics and worries that average Americans will not have a champion. “How the hell can you make it in society today if you don’t have access to an education, you don’t have access to adequate health care, you don’t have access to the opportunity to have a job that you can handle where you can make ends meet?” he said.  

LEADING THE DAY

Trump will return to the White House facing a global political climate significantly more fragmented than the one he left four years ago.

The world is “a lot less stable” than when Trump first took office in 2017, Cliff Kupchan, chair of Eurasia Group and co-author of its 2025 Top Risks report, told Morning Report’s Kristina Karisch. Intense fighting in Europe between Russia and Ukraine, broad conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, and escalating flareups across the Middle East between Israel and Iran have tested U.S. influence. Leadership shakeups among multiple allies — including Germany, France and Canada — added to a growing sense of fragmentation across the globe.

Saul Mangel, vice president at Schoen Cooperman Research and opinion contributor at The Hill, told Morning Report that this instability is going to “occupy” Trump, “whether he wants it to or not, and obviously he does not.” 

“He’s very big on presiding over a peaceful time,” Mangel said. “He took credit for the cease fire deal with Israel and Hamas, because that’s important for him. That is probably going to translate over into foreign policy, and for the first little bit, we would imagine that most countries are going to take a pause to gauge the administration and avoid doing anything to radically upset it. But eventually countries will go their own way.”

Even before his inauguration, Trump is offering a preview of an increasingly expansionist approach to foreign policy. His threats to slap tariffs on goods from China, “51st State” Canada and Mexico, coupled with talk of occupying Greenland and retaking the Panama Canal, are “still policy by sound bite, policy by tweet,” Kupchan said, “but it’s even more aggressive than during Trump 1.0.”

That show of force was evident when Trump warned that “all hell” would break loose in the Middle East if Israel and Hamas didn’t broker a ceasefire in Gaza before his inauguration. Mangel said the success of the deal comes down in part to both sides’ uncertainty of what Trump’s threat would entail. 

While Biden “said the right things and he did the right things” as his administration worked for months on negotiations, Mangel said, ultimately, both parties “weren’t scared of him.” 

“People are going to be wary about crossing him,” he said of Trump. “He says a lot of things that presidents don’t typically say, and volatility is kind of just part of the game. The price of admission would be one way to put it, and it works.”

But Kupchan cautioned that Biden’s emphasis on working closely with U.S. allies drove much of the success of his foreign policy — especially the sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. After Russia invaded Ukraine, he said, “The only reason we were able to put a huge sanctions wall up against Russia was Biden’s emphasis on working with U.S. allies.” 

Under Trump, Kupchan added, “the international community is going to be unable to respond, much less in crises… Were the Ukraine war to break out today, even if Trump were disposed to support the Ukrainians, the U.S. under Trump would be much less capable of putting up a tariff wall, putting up a sanctions wall.”

▪ The Atlantic: Brace for more foreign policy chaos. 

▪ The Washington Post: Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of State, details what Trump’s “America First” foreign policy will entail.

One thing is certain: Trump’s second term will shape the outside view of the U.S. for years to come.

“Leaders and analysts outside the U.S. are going to have a very strong view that this country flip flops every four years,” Kupchan said. “From a leader’s point of view, it’s okay to make a mistake once, but it’s not okay to make the same mistake twice. I think there’ll be a lot of structural skepticism towards U.S. commitments moving forward.”

Mangel pointed out that worldwide, geopolitics “swing like a pendulum.” Where countries searched for stability during Trump’s first term, the next four years — marked by the pandemic and economic uncertainty — leaned the opposite way, and incumbent governments are paying the price. 

“Trump, in some ways, will fit in more if he has governments… that are a little more in line with him, but that could also exacerbate fractures in the West,” Mangel added.

What will that mean for the alliance-focused global politics that have prevailed since World War II? Kupchan said that countries will structure their foreign policy along the lines of “America First” principles — putting their own interests ahead of overarching organizations or alliances.

“That means a lot more chaos,” he predicted. “We should all expect a devolution of power to regions and countries and away from the global order.”

WHERE AND WHEN

• The House convenes at 10 a.m. Monday. The Senate meets today at 9:30 a.m. 
• President Biden will speak to the U.S. Conference of Mayors at 2:15 p.m. in Washington.   
     
• Vice President Harris has no public schedule. 
• President-elect Trump plans a ticketed Sunday afternoon event in Washington at Capital One Arena ahead of his inauguration.
• Correction: John Ratcliffe is Trump’s pick to be CIA director, a position held by William Burns. We regret a Thursday error. 

ZOOM IN  

© The Associated Press | Cliff Owen

More Trump appointments — U.S. Air Force: The president-elect said Thursday he will nominate Troy Meink, a top spy chief who has previously served as a missile engineer, to be secretary of the Air Force. Meink is the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence agency in charge of building and maintaining U.S. spy satellites.

U.S. Secret Service: The president-elect tapped Sean Curran, leader of the detail protecting him since he left office in 2021, to direct the Secret Service, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, CNN reported. Curran, if confirmed, would be new to managing the agency’s $3 billion budget and supervising its more than 8,000 employees. Ronald Rowe has been acting Secret Service director since July, succeeding director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned following an assassination attempt aimed at Trump in Butler, Pa. She told Congress the shooting that injured then-candidate Trump’s ear and killed a bystander was the “most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”

U.S. Department of Agriculture: Trump on Thursday announced his intention to nominate farmer Richard Fordyce, a former administrator of the federal Farm Service Agency, to be the next under secretary for farm production and conservation at USDA. The president-elect tapped Idaho businessman Michael Boren to be under secretary for natural resources and environment at the Agriculture Department. Trump named Dudley Hoskins, counsel on the Senate Agriculture Committee, to be the department’s under secretary for marketing and regulator programs.

👉Here are some federal spending cuts that Trump’s government efficiency advisers may recommend — and potential impacts to Americans’ wallets and the economy. Inside the early days of “DOGE.”

Inauguration Day Primer: The U.S. Capitol Monday will be the stage for a celebration of constitutional constancy, a high-five for Trump voters and the kickoff for every screen viewer who enjoys a January parade observed from the warm confines of the indoors.

Did we mention weather watchers predict “bitter cold”? Here’s most of what you might need to know:

Security will be intense — and it will be obvious. But the National Mall will be largely open to the public. (Monday also is the Martin Luther King Jr. official holiday).

The Trump Inaugural Committee released a detailed itinerary, and the news media will broadcast and livestream throughout. Trump, for the second time in his political career, will be sworn in at noon and deliver an address (his 2017 “American carnage” speech turned some heads). Vice President-elect JD Vance will take the oath first. Biden and first lady Jill Biden will exit the Capitol grounds by plane after the transfer of power and return to private life.

Guests sitting near heaters on the inaugural platform are to include former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, along with Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. Michelle Obama will be a no-show. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Trump foe who is recovering from hip surgery with 11 inaugurations under her belt, will not attend.

This year, tech billionaires say they’ll join the VIP throngs, along with an unusually large assemblage of international dignitaries. China’s foreign ministry announced on Thursday that Han Zheng, the vice president of China, will arrive to represent President Xi Jinping. “We stand ready to work with the new U.S. government,” the foreign ministry said. Javier Milei, the right-leaning president of Argentina, says he’s coming. His followers wear hats that say, “Make Argentina Great Again.”

For those eager to hear some red, white and blue notes, the Inaugural Committee says it booked Carrie Underwood to sing “America the Beautiful,” along with Lee Greenwood with his “God Bless the USA” standard and opera singer Christopher Macchio to perform a soaring rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

👉 Here’s how to watch on NewsNation, which is owned by Nexstar Media Group, as is The Hill.

ELSEWHERE

© The Associated Press | Ohad Zwigenberg

CEASEFIRE: After snags on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today that his country’s Security Cabinet will vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal brokered by Biden, Trump and partners in the Middle East. The agreement with Hamas would kick off an initial 42-day ceasefire and calm the 15-month war. 

Israel’s full Cabinet will vote on the deal Saturday. Hamas said it was “committed” to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press briefing Thursday that he remains confident the deal will be implemented as planned. Despite the last-minute issues, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the agreement could still go into effect on Sunday if Israeli ministers approve the deal.

“The release of hostages can be realized according to the planned framework, under which the hostages are expected to be freed on Sunday,” his office said.

The Times of Israel: These are the 33 hostages set to be returned in phase one of the Gaza ceasefire.

UKRAINE: Nearly three years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, it will take more than a day to end the conflict, as Trump now appears to acknowledge. The president-elect repeatedly vowed during his campaign that he would end the conflict in 24 hours after returning to the White House, but Trump has more recently said he thinks six months is a realistic timetable. His nominee for special envoy for Ukraine, retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, is more optimistic, believing a deal in 100 days is feasible.

▪ BBC: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to put Ukraine in the “strongest possible position” with a “landmark” 100-year pact.

▪ The Washington Post: Indians lured to Russia are dying on the front lines in Ukraine.

▪ The New York Times: The new interim Syrian government says it will hunt down and punish senior security officials and others, but concern is growing about attacks on former low-level members of the toppled Assad regime’s forces.

OPINION 

■ Trump’s ‘madman theory’ worked in Gaza when all else failed, by Shadi Hamid, columnist, The Washington Post.

■ Kash Patel’s challenge: reforming the FBI while winning its trust, by Christopher M. Donohue, opinion contributor, The Hill.

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite

And finally … Bravo to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! Ahead of Monday’s big event at the Capitol, we looked for smart guesses about inaugurations in history.

Here are the trivia-savvy readers who earned their star turns: Richard E. Baznik, John van Santen, Rick Schmidtke, Harry Strulovici, Pam Manges, Phil Kirstein, Peter Sprofera, Ray Tillman, Linda L. Field, Jenessa Wagner, Terry Pflaumer, H. Edward “Ed” Woods, Lori Benso, Brian Hogan, Robert Bradley, Jerry Leonard, John Trombetti, Lynn Gardner, Jaina Mehta Buck, Mike Collins, Mark R. Williamson, Chuck Schoenenberger, Christine Klik-Zalewski, Carmine Petracca and James Morris.

They knew that before the ratification of the 20th Amendment in 1933, swearing-in ceremonies took place in March.

John Adams was the first president to skip his successor’s inauguration.

Andrew Johnson was the vice president who slurred his inaugural oath after turning to whiskey to ease typhoid fever pain.

Former President Reagan successfully quit a smoking habit by eating Jelly Belly jellybeans, a blue version of which was created specifically for his inauguration. 

Stay Engaged 

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