Welcome to the online edition of From the Politics Desk, an evening email that provides you with the most recent coverage and commentary from the campaign trail, Capitol Hill, and the White House by the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s broadcast, Donald Trump conducts his first news conference following the election, and Robert F. Kennedy starts meeting with senators in Washington. Additionally, the senior political editor dissects a significant contributing element to Kamala Harris’ loss in November.
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RFK Jr. begins meeting with senators as he seeks to lead HHS
By Kate Santaliz, Sahil Kapur and Brennan Leach
According to a source familiar with his intentions, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president-elect Donald Trump’s choice to serve as secretary of health and human services, will meet with more than two dozen Republican senators on Capitol Hill this week.
Kennedy will likely be questioned about his lengthy history of speaking out against vaccines, his plans to change the healthcare system, and his support for abortion rights.
The list of senators includes soon-to-be Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, whose committee will monitor and vote on Kennedy’s proposed nomination, as well as John Thune, R-S.D., who will serve as Senate majority leader next year, and John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
He had his first meeting with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who referred to it as a “great meeting” and wished him luck, saying, “I completely support what he wants to accomplish.”
Scott stated that he and Kennedy have a desire for vaccine openness.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that will also examine his nomination, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is up for reelection in 2026, and moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are all prominent names on Kennedy’s anticipated meeting list.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a Republican who is leaving the GOP leadership after 18 years in the top position but remaining a senator, is a crucial lawmaker to keep an eye on in Kennedy’s confirmation fight. In reaction to a New York Times article claiming that a Kennedy adviser had requested that the FDA revoke its clearance of the polio vaccine, McConnell, a polio survivor, fired a warning shot on Friday.
According to a statement from McConnell, the polio vaccine has prevented millions of deaths and offered hope for the eradication of a horrible illness. In addition to being ignorant, attempts to erode public trust in tried-and-true treatments are harmful.
He and the adviser in question had not spoken about the adviser’s efforts to withdraw clearance of the polio vaccine, a Kennedy official told The New York Times. Kennedy spokesperson Katie Miller told NBC News on Friday that the polio vaccine ought to be made publicly accessible and carefully researched.
Kennedy responded to reporters’ questions on Monday by saying, “Yeah, I support the polio vaccine.”
Trump claimed at a press conference on Monday that Kennedy is a very sensible man and that he was a strong supporter of the polio vaccine.
Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, stated that he would like to ask Kennedy about his views on abortion.
It goes without saying that HHS was quite explicit on abortion conscience protections and other issues during the first Trump administration. However, Lankford stated in a recent interview that [President Joe] Biden’s team undone everything. I will ask those kinds of queries.
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In his first post-election news conference, an upbeat Trump boasts of his popularity with CEOs
By Rebecca Shabad and Rob Wile
President-elect Donald Trump was upbeat Monday at his first post-election news conference, saying there was a big difference between now and when he took office in 2016: Some of his former adversaries are now being nice to him.
Everybody wants to be my friend, he said about how he s being treated by CEOs of major technology companies, whom he has portrayed as adversaries in the past. I’m not sure; perhaps my personality has altered.
During the Mar-a-Lago event, the first he has hosted himself since November, Trump said that one of the biggest differences over the last four years is that everybody was fighting me.
The biggest difference is that people want to get along with me this time, he added.
Trump referred to recent meetings with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai and former Alphabet President Sergey Brin. He also said he plans to meet with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos later this week. Several major tech companies, including Amazon, Meta and OpenAI have already donated $1 million each to Trump s inaugural fund.
Trump and the head of the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, alsoannounced a $100 billion investmenteffort designed to spur artificial intelligence and related infrastructure projects.
A few of the other notable moments from Monday s news conference:
- Trump signaled he would be willing to pardon New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was charged in September with bribery and wire fraud as part of a scheme that spanned nearly 10 years.
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On the
reported sightings of drones
over New Jersey and New York, Trump said, The government knows what is happening. He declined to say whether he had received an intelligence briefing about it.
- Trump criticized those who have praised the suspected shooter in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
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The real reason why Democrats lost in 2024
By Mark Murray
In the six weeks since the 2024 presidential election, there have been plenty of explanations for Democrats defeat.
Some argue Kamala Harris and her party were too progressive. Others believe they weren t progressive enough. And others point the finger atculture,neoliberalism,media consumption,podcasts,immigrationand, of course,inflation.
But from the polling data, there s an even more fundamental reason why Harris lost to Donald Trump: Joe Biden s presidency was historically unpopular. And Harris, as the sitting vice president, was unable to separate herself from Biden, or incapable of it.
Just look atGallup s historic presidential job approval ratings. Every modern president with a job rating at 45% or lower before the election saw their party lose that race.
And the task for a sitting vice president has been even harder. Only one modern sitting VP, George H.W. Bush, has succeeded the president under which he or she served. Bush 41 did it when Ronald Reagan s approval rating was at 58% before the 1988 election.
In 2000, Al Gore got oh-so-close to winning the White House when Bill Clinton s approval rating was at 57%.
But Harris situation is more comparable to Hubert Humphrey s in 1968. Back then, President Lyndon Johnson s approval rating was at 42%, and VP Humphrey lost the popular vote to Richard Nixon by nearly 1 percentage point.
Guess what: Heading into last November s presidential election, Biden s approval was at 41%. And Harris similar to Humphrey lost the popular vote by nearly 1.5 percentage points.
Now the reasons for Biden s low approval rating are up for debate. How much of it was the border? Or the Afghanistan withdrawal? Or inflation? Or his age? Or a combination of all of the above?
Yet no matter how you slice it, he was unpopular for much of his presidency. And an unpopular president is a chief reason why a political party can lose control of the White House.
Today s top stories
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TikTok on the clock:
TikTok asked the Supreme Court to block a law currently set to go into effect on Jan. 19 that could potentially ban the app.Read more
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Eye in the sky:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked the Department of Homeland Security to send a drone detection system to New York and New Jersey following a series of mysterious drone sightings.Read more
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Day 1 priorities:
Trump has pledged to pardon Jan. 6 defendants, but allies and critics are raising concerns about his level of awareness of the details of the sprawling investigation into the Capitol attack that has produced hundreds of convictions.Read more
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To-do list:
Several Democratic lawmakers are urging Biden to pardon those affected by sentencing disparities in offenses involving crack and powder cocaine.Read more
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WFH battle:
The union representing thousands of federal workers said it would fight any effort by Trump to block a Biden administration agreement allowing thousands of federal workers to continue with remote work.Read more
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He s running:
David Hogg, an anti-gun violence activist who survived a high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, announced that he is running to be vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.Read more
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The next fight for the House:
The November election has shaken up the upcoming fight for the narrowly divided House in 2026, with more Democrats representing districts Trump carried and just a few Republicans in districts Harris won.Read more
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Exit interview:
In an interview with NBC News, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., reflected on his two decades in the Senate, what went wrong in Pennsylvania for Democrats this year, and how the party moves forward.Read more
That s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback likes or dislikes email us [email protected]
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