Washington Edition

This is Washington Edition, the newsletter about money, power and politics in the nation’s capital. Today, White House correspondent Stephanie Lai looks at how President Donald Trump learned from his last term. Sign up here and follow us at @bpolitics. Email our editors here.

Second Chances

Donald Trump, a notoriously prodigious consumer of television, watched over the last four years how the government was being run and publicly mused about all of the things that he would’ve done differently had he been granted a second consecutive term.

Today he had a sit-down interview with Sean Hannity airing tonight on the Fox News host’s prime-time program where the president will more than likely tout the flurry of executive actions that he’s taken since returning to the White House that illustrate some of the lessons he learned from his first go-round in office and the plans that he’s harbored since then.

Trump Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/Sipa

Lesson One: Come prepared. Trump had four years to stew over what he wanted to get done. What’s more, he had a cadre of loyalists familiar with how the government works spending that time mapping out how to accomplish those goals.

In place of the sometimes chaotic broadside of executive actions at the start of his first term, Team Trump 2.0 had at-ready some specific and targeted orders, such as immediately ending government and military diversity, equity and inclusion programs, declaring a “national energy emergency” and suspending the asylum system for migrants.

Lesson Two: Make a Big Splash. Trump, who’s always had a flair for showmanship, made a big display of his support from some of the billionaire tech executives who previously criticized him. He signed executive actions in front of cameras at an inauguration rally and in the Oval Office.

And he’s getting his message out early and often. In addition to set piece inaugural events, he conducted a news conference on his first day in office, and made even more news yesterday as he unveiled an AI infrastructure project and answered questions from the news media for nearly an hour.

Lesson Three: Trump’s first televised interview after taking office 2017 was a combative session with ABC News’ David Muir that somewhat set the tone for the next four years. It’s almost certain to set a different mood tonight when Hannity presents his audience with a first look at Trump as the returning victor. — Stephanie Lai

Don’t Miss

Elon Musk openly questioned whether companies that joined Trump’s announcement promising hundreds of billions of dollars for artificial intelligence infrastructure can follow through on their promise.

Trump stepped up pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, and threatened new sanctions and tariffs on the country if it refuses to conclude fighting swiftly.

WATCH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses the war with Russia and Trump’s role in peace negotiations.

Buried in the dense language of Trump’s executive order on trade were potentially sweeping changes in how the US does trillions of dollars of business with the world.

The president extended his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion policies to corporate America, targeting federal contractors and publicly traded companies.

Justice Department employees were told to support Trump’s immigration agenda by sharing data collected on people in the country illegally with federal immigration enforcers.

Migrant communities in cities from New York to Chicago and Los Angeles are on edge after Trump vowed to start mass deportations and empowered immigration agents to enter churches and schools.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned millions from his work as an attorney, including referral fees from cases filed against the agency he’s been chosen to lead, federal disclosures show.

House Republicans are in talks over raising the cap for state and local tax deductions after winning pledges from Trump and congressional leaders to include the measure in a must-pass tax bill this year.

Watch & Listen

Today on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power early edition at 1 p.m., hosts Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz interviewed Nazak Nikakhtar, National Security Practice Group Lead at Wiley Rein LLP and a former Commerce Department official, about how Trump’s policies may affect international trade.

On the program at 5 p.m., they talk with Libby Cantrill, Pimco's managing director and head of public policy, on the president's first week and what's expected ahead.

On the Trumponomics podcast, host Stephanie Flanders, Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, Washington reporter Jenny Leonard and Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Brad Stone unpack what Trump's transactionalism will look like for foreign policy, and what will be the fallout for the global economy and trade policy. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Chart of the Day

Business needs will drive the use of robots into new areas in 2025, according to a report from the International Federation of Robotics. The top five trends for the robotics industry include changes to the shape, use, and smarts of robots, as well as greater use of artificial intelligence to better manage variability and unpredictability (much like a human could). Another trend will be moving away from single-purpose robots to robots with more general uses, often shaped like a human. Further, under the guise of alleviating labor shortages, more robots are expected to take on tasks now performed by humans, including those that involve dirty, dull, dangerous or delicate tasks. — Alex Tanzi

What’s Next

Trump is scheduled to address the heads of state, central bankers and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, tomorrow via video.

Existing home sales in December will be released Friday.

The University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment gauge for January is released Friday.

Trump travels to disaster-struck Asheville, North Carolina and Los Angeles on Friday.

Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao make their public debut Friday at the National Zoo in Washington.

New home sales data for December are released on Monday.

The Federal Reserve’s next meeting will be next Tuesday and Wednesday.

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