Happy New Year and a big RIP to Jimmy Carter. We’re celebrating Finn’s 15th birthday here today, which is hard to believe.
The next order of political business in this country comes on Friday when the 119th Congress is sworn in and the House of Representatives is supposed to elect a Speaker. We will get immediate drama.
Talking to the press briefly at his Mar-a-Lago club on New Year’s Eve, Donald Trump indicated that he would be willing to make calls to Republican members of the House urging them to support Mike Johnson’s bid. It may not work.
In addition to Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who opposes Johnson, ABC News has counted 15 incoming House Republicans who have not committed to supporting him. Johnson cannot afford to lose any of their votes.
Meanwhile, Trump says he will attend Carter’s funeral, which kind of upsets me even though I’d be even more offended if he showed no interest. The problem is that he doesn’t belong anywhere near Carter’s family or his mourners. But then he doesn’t belong in elected office. He should be spending every day of the rest of his life in a locked cell.
The year was only a couple of hours old when someone drove a truck into the New Year’s celebration on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and then opened fire. So far, 10 are dead and 35 more injured, proving we can’t have optimism even for a few moments.
But I guess Elon Musk is optimistic that strong Tesla sales in China will make up for crap sales in the U.S. and Europe. And he’s betting that he can diversify Tesla away from a reliance on cars by making Megapack batteries in Shanghai. And we thought Trump was going to be tough on China?
