Happy Monday from a very snowy New Jersey. Wherever you are, hope you're warm and watching the inauguration coverage!
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Think of Washington as a stage and the inauguration as a performance. Television networks beam the show into American homes every four years without fail. It's a familiar and in some ways comforting act – although today's festivities will depart from the norm for a number of reasons.
President-elect Donald Trump certainly thinks in "show" terms. He has been performing all his life. And inauguration weekend already generated some memorable scenes: Trump dancing to "YMCA" with the Village People, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos chatting at a candlelight dinner, Trump casting himself as the savior of the TikTok app he previously wanted to ban.
And we're about to see a lot more: Trump and Biden riding in a limo to the inauguration together... VIPs cramming into the rotunda for the indoor ceremony... some more tech CEO sightings... And, as Jake Tapper said during CNN's special coverage this morning, "radical and immediate change" through a blitz of executive orders and actions...
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Day one right out of Breitbart's dreams |
As CNN's Stephen Collinson wrote this morning, "Trump's comeback will begin with a blast of executive power." It's exactly what right-wing media outlets have been encouraging him to do. Breitbart is pointing out that senior editor-at-large Joel B. Pollak's book "In The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days" outlined "over 200 executive orders, actions, and memoranda" for the start of a second Trump term. And how many executive actions are expected? Trump says "close to 100," but Fox says "more than 200" are planned. Breitbart is enjoying the victory lap.
>> Another example of Trump thinking about his show: "Somebody said yesterday, 'Sir, don't sign so many (executive orders) in one day; let's do it over a period of weeks.' I said, 'Like hell we're going to do it over weeks, we're going to sign them at the beginning,'" Trump said at his rally last night.
Here are some media and tech angles to watch out for:
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Watch for 'shock and awe' language |
Whether you think Trump is actually strong and effective, he is masterful at performing force and talking in terms of strength versus weakness. This is evident throughout the news coverage today, with the commentary about Trump achieving "shock and awe," moving "quickly," acting "aggressively." These words all arouse emotions. And This NYT feature sharing "the inner thoughts" of Americans about Trump's return to office highlights how today is all about feelings.
>> On the right, "the vibes are great again," Andrew Stiles writes in a Washington Free Beacon story titled "The Joy Is Back in Town..."
>> As Kristen Soltis Anderson said on CNN this morning, "Donald Trump will be judged on the actions – and what Americans feel from those actions – as much as any words that he says today..."
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Watch for a deferential media |
Ahead of Trump's inauguration, some mainstream media outlets have softened their coverage of the incoming president. (You don't hear many "twice impeached" or "convicted felon" references anymore.) And there is no denying that media owners are aware of Trump's transactional nature. The latest overture: The WSJ's Jessica Toonkel and DrewFitzgerald report that Paramount might try to settle Trump's frivolous lawsuit over a "60 Minutes" episode as it plans to merge with Skydance.
"It's become clear to executives" that "Trump's dissatisfaction with CBS News will make the review tougher than they anticipated, and that they'll likely need to offer concessions to win approval," they write. Paramount declined to comment on the report.
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Watch for Fox's influence |
The early weeks of Trump's first term were marred by episodes of Trump reacting to what he heard on TV. (Remember "last night in Sweden?") There is every reason to believe that Fox News will be equally influential the second time around.
"By my count, 19 former Fox hosts and commentators may be occupying roles in the White House," Fox's Greg Gutfeld said yesterday, setting up his quips: "They've already renamed 'Fox & Friends' just Fox," and "Outnumbered" (where four women are joined by "one lucky guy") is "now changed to 'One Lonely Guy!'"
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Watch for Elon Musk's early moves |
What will "DOGE" do and when? With Vivek Ramaswamy reportedly moving to run for Ohio governor, Musk will be overseeing the new nongovernmental entity from an office in the White House complex. After Trump's rally last night, CNN's Jeff Zeleny pointed out that Musk was the only person Trump invited up on stage: "It is clear that President Trump puts Elon Musk in a higher category than anyone else in his cabinet. He mentioned those people tonight, but no one else was on stage except Elon."
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Watch for MAGA media pushback |
"How long can the alliance between tech titans and the MAGA faithful last?" That's what James Pogue's must-read essay for the NYT asks. He describes the "fissures" within Trump's coalition, specifically between Steve Bannon types and the ascendant "Tech Right." |
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> "Keep an eye on this," NBC's Garrett Haake says: "Trump says he talked to Tim Cook today, who told him Apple would be making a major investment in the US shortly."
>> Michael Grynbaum reports that Trump dined with Fox News bosses Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace at Mar-a-Lago two weeks ago. (NYT)
>> The "legacy news" is "on its heels" as Trump returns to office, David Bauder writes, noting that "opportunities abound for new voices to emerge." (AP)
>> Sen. Lindsey Graham blasted CBS moderator Margaret Brennan after she "questioned him on the incoming Trump administration's threats against journalists," Maurício Alencar reports. Graham said "you shouldn’t worry about Kash Patel, you should worry about reporting the news fairly." (Daily Beast)
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TikTok users are unwittingly in the middle of a dramatic negotiation between the American and Chinese governments. "This is all a game of poker and TikTok is a chip on the table with US/China," analyst Dan Ives said over the weekend.
The app's brief blackout might have been a PR masterstroke for Trump. Once service was restored, TikTok thanked the incoming president for absolving its service providers of liability and said it would work with him "on a long-term solution." But some conservative heavyweights are already pushing back on the plan, and the app is still unavailable on Apple and Google's stores. The Verge editor Nilay Patel wrote on Bluesky, "the only way to read this is that a guy who is not the President said 'you may break the law for a while and I won’t punish you when I become President' and everyone said, sure, good enough."
>> As CNN's Jim Sciutto observed, "The US Intel assessment that TikTok is a national security threat has not changed. The fact that a large bipartisan majority passed the TikTok ban has not changed. Only Trump’s view of TikTok, following an election in which he says it helped him, has changed."
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Instagram trying to make inroads |
With TikTok's long-term fate still in some limbo, the app's rivals are trying to capitalize. Instagram is making TikTok-y changes and launching new video creation app called Edits "which bears an uncanny resemblance to CapCut," ByteDance's popular TikTok-making app, Clare Duffy writes.
It's not just Meta. Apps like Clapper and Likee continue to see a surge in new users. And the Daily Mail came out with a clever announcement right after TikTok was blacked out on Saturday: The website added a "viral shorts hub" on its homepage to promote its short-form video content...
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Tonight: Ohio State and Notre Dame play for the college football national championship trophy live on ESPN
Tuesday: Netflix reports earnings after the bell
Thursday at 5:30 a.m. PT: Oscar nominations are announced
Thursday: The Sundance Film Festival begins
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