| | | | Tomorrow is the day Donald Trump's presidency totally changes |  | | Donald Trump may not realize it totally yet, but today was the last easy-ish day of his presidency.
By noon (or so) Thursday, Nancy Pelosi will become the new speaker of the House of Representatives -- formalizing the Democratic majority her side won in last November's election. And that will change everything.
Trump has sought to look on the bright side of divided control of government to date -- insisting that maybe he will be able to make deals with the new Democratic majority in the House. "It really could be a beautiful bipartisan situation," he said at a press conference the day after the 2018 election.
But the early returns are not promising. The federal government has been shut down for the past 12 days -- and there's little reason to believe that will change at any point soon. Trump has dug in on his demand for $5 billion to fund construction of his border wall. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, are equally dead-set on providing zero dollars for Trump's wall.
And this is only the beginning. Starting tomorrow, Democrats in the House will make Trump's life a living hell. Efforts are already underway to bring a number of his Cabinet officials before Congress, to extricate his tax returns from his grip and to more deeply probe his business dealings both before and during his presidency.
Trump, a political neophyte prior to the 2016 race, has never had to deal with this sort of opposition before. Sure, Democrats have never been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But he never really needed Democrats to do much of anything, either. The Republican majorities in the House and Senate ensured Trump got his tax cuts and two Supreme Court picks. There was no real political penalty for his total unwillingness and inability to work with Democrats.
Those days are now over. Democrats can now do Trump real political damage using the official means of their House majority. While they may not be able to, say, force his tax returns into public view (the jury remains out on that), they can make sure the issue is front and center and create major distractions for a White House that has already shown it can distract itself very well, thank you very much.
Trump claims to understand this, likely with his self-professed titanic intellect. To me, that's like when people who are about to have a baby say they are totally ready for it. As evidence, they point to their nursery being all set up, the Diaper Genie being up and running, and so on and so forth. Then the baby comes -- and they realize, like every parent that has gone before them, that no amount of planning or bracing could fully prepare them for their new reality.
That's Trump and the new Democratic House majority.
The Point: Look out: It's going to be a mess.
-- Chris | | "I drink Michelob Ultra: the club soda of beers."
-- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, telling reporters about her New Years Eve Instagram live in which she cracked open a beer.
Warren announced Monday that she is officially considering a run for president -- and will visit Iowa this weekend. | | |  | A new crop of House members are descending on Washington ahead of tomorrow's swearing-in ceremony.
Lauren caught up with incoming Rep. Deb Haaland -- in the first edition of her new newsletter project: Meet Your New Members of Congress! The Democrat from New Mexico is looking to prioritize the conversation around missing and murdered Native women in her first term -- and is a huge fan of classic rock.
Lauren Dezenski: What's your top priority in your first term?
Deb Haaland: As an organizer for more than 20 years, I'll bring those skills to Congress to organize my colleagues on issues that matter to New Mexico and Indian Country. Many of my colleagues are ready to fight climate change, as am I. We also want health care for all, strong public schools, universal early childhood education and a Green New Deal that brings long-lasting jobs to our communities.
LD: How can more Native Americans be elected across New Mexico -- and across the country?
DH: I intend to leave the ladder down for women, women of color and Native Americans -- who are the least represented in any elected positions. I'm proud to have encouraged and contributed to several Native women this past cycle who won their state house seats. I'll continue to support political leadership training organizations like Emerge -- where in New Mexico, Emerge NM recruits Native American women to the apply to the program and to run. I believe that Native women are seeing positive role models in the wins that happened this year. I will keep supporting them.
LD: If 2018 is the year of the woman, what does that make 2019?
DH: 2019 is the year of the bold agenda. When the true diversity of our nation is represented, we see a shift in our communities actually getting what they need: clean air and water, protected lands, affordable health care and quality education are just a few.
LD: Did you have a New Year's resolution in 2018 -- and did you achieve it? What about 2019?
DH: For 2018, I resolved to work as hard as I could to win my race for New Mexicans. Next year, I will make missing and murdered Native women part of the national conversation so that we can all work to end this crisis.
LD: What's your favorite pump-up music to get yourself motivated?
DH: I am a classic rock fanatic!
LD: What is your favorite thing to eat in your district?
DH: Absolutely no question: Red chile enchiladas, red chile stew, red chile and frijoles and fried potatoes with a homemade hot tortilla.
Haaland and the rest of the incoming House class will be sworn in at noon on Thursday. And keep an eye out: We will have future editions of Meet Your New Members of Congress in upcoming editions of The Point! | | | Lauren's channeling her inner Olivia Newton-John in the new year -- time to get physical and sweat out those holiday calories!! | | The field of 2020 presidential candidates is about to explode. Here are a few names set to come onto the scene with 2020 decisions real soon:
Amy Klobuchar: The Minnesota senator said she is "getting close to a decision" in an interview today.
Jay Inslee: The governor of Washington plans to seek the presidency -- and wants to run on a climate change platform.
Julian Castro: The former San Antonio mayor plans to make a formal announcement to run on January 12.
Tom Steyer: The California billionaire plans to visit Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada (three of the four early voting states!) as he considers a presidential run. | |  | Sanctions are coming, apparently?
As he held his first Cabinet meeting of 2019, President Donald Trump displayed a poster version of a meme that he tweeted on November 2 on the table in front of him. The poster makes reference to Game of Thrones' famous phrase: "Winter is coming," instead warning of upcoming sanctions.
We reached out to the White House on why the poster made its physical debut today, but did not get a response to our request for comment. | | Nikki Haley, who has left government for the first time in years, gave us an update on what she's been up to: "My first official act as a private citizen after 8 years in public service....downloaded Uber!"
Washingtonian Magazine's Brittany Shepherd reported that the tweet was not sponsored content for Uber, according to a company spokesperson.
Go figure! | | | | | | |
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