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THE 4PM: A HIGHLIGHT REEL OF TODAY’S NEWS. FOR CONSERVATIVES. EVERY AFTERNOON AT 4PM.

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Here’s How Biden Reacted to the Surprising Letter Trump Left Him in the Oval Office

(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“That was very gracious and generous … Shockingly gracious,” President Joe Biden reportedly said after reading a letter former President Donald Trump left him in the Oval Office.

SO WHAT

As Trump famously said on the 2016 campaign trail, “I can be more presidential – if I want to be – than anybody.”

THE DETAILS

Biden’s reaction to Trump’s traditional outgoing letter is documented in Chris Whipple’s forthcoming book, “The Fight of His Life,” Politico previewed Tuesday.

  • Shortly after taking office in January 2021, Biden told reporters that Trump’s letter was “very generous” but declined to reveal the contents.
  • Trump said last year of the letter: “Basically I wished him luck and, you know, it was a couple of pages long and it was from the heart because I want to see him do well.”

THE ART OF THE DEAL

Trump’s self-proclaimed ability to play the “rigged” game of U.S. politics was a big part of his first presidential campaign pitch.

Elon Musk Reveals What He’ll Do at Twitter After Stepping Down as CEO

Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday that he will step down as CEO of Twitter once he “finds someone foolish enough to take the job.”

SO WHAT

Running Twitter has become one of the most high-profile and heavily scrutinized jobs in the world.

THE DETAILS

Musk wrote that he will continue to “run the software & servers teams” at the social media company he recently bought for $44 billion.

  • His resignation announcement came as belated acceptance of the results of a Twitter poll that he posted Sunday, amid outcry over his suspension of several journalists from the platform.

TRUMP’S TAKE

Former President Donald Trump praised Musk during an interview with One America News Network on Tuesday and offered advice on choosing a successor.

  • “You need somebody that has a lot of different hats. That’s not an easy thing to find in that world. You need technology. You need politics. You need sort of everything,” Trump told OANN’s Chanel Rion.
  • “I think [Musk] probably wanted to step down.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “A work in progress.”

— President Joe Biden early take on Vice President Kamala Harris, reportedly

Soon after taking office in January 2021, an “annoyed” Biden vented to associates about his gaffe-prone and overwhelmed No. 2, author Chris Whipple writes in his forthcoming book, “The Fight of His Life,” Politico reported Tuesday.

  • A senior White House advisor told Whipple that Harris’ “inner circle didn’t serve her well in the presidential campaign — and they are ill-serving her now.”

These 30 Seconds Sum Up What People Hate About Congress

In an exchange with CNN correspondent Manu Raju, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed complaints that senators are expected to vote on a 4,155-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill hours after first seeing it.

SO WHAT

America’s laws are increasingly dictated by a small group of congressional leaders.

THE MOMENT

Raju, echoing some Republican lawmakers, questioned Schumer on his decision to hold a vote on the bipartisan spending bill Wednesday, just a day after it was filed, asking, “How is it a functional process … ?”

  • “The bill has been carefully worked on by the Appropriations Committee for a very, very long time,” replied Schumer. “Most of the provisions were well known weeks and weeks and weeks in advance, and getting this bill done for the American people, which really matters, is the most important thing.”
  • President Joe Biden was expected to sign the bill ahead of a looming deadline; it contains $772.5 billion for non-defense programs and $858 billion for defense, including $45 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine

THE PROBLEM

“The founders envisioned Congress as a deliberative body in which outcomes are discovered,” then-Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., wrote in a 2019 Washington Post op-ed about why he was leaving the GOP. “We are fast approaching the point, however, where Congress exists as little more than a formality to legitimize outcomes dictated by the president, the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader.”

  • “With little genuine debate on policy happening in Congress, party leaders distract and divide the public by exploiting wedge issues and waging pointless messaging wars. These strategies fuel mistrust and anger, leading millions of people to take to social media to express contempt for their political opponents, with the media magnifying the most extreme voices. This all combines to reinforce the us-vs.-them, party-first mind-set of government officials,” Amash continued.
  • A number of conservative thinkers and lawmakers have traced Congress’ myriad failures to the consolidation of power with leadership.

Americans Want a Border Crackdown as Soon as They Hear the Facts

U.S. voters tend to greatly underestimate how many migrants are illegally entering the country and to support stricter border enforcement when they find out, according to a new Harvard/Harris poll.

SO WHAT

Liberals often accuse the right of exaggerating the crisis at the southern border, but it appears the public doesn’t even know how the situation is.

THE DETAILS

Seventy-five percent of registered voters estimate that 1 million or fewer illegal border crossings were recorded in fiscal year 2022, per the Harvard/Harris poll, conducted Dec. 14-15.

  • Nearly nine in 10 voters think the number is less than 2 million.
  • In reality, there were more than 2.75 million illegal border crossings, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
  • After being provided the correct statistic, over two-thirds of voters want the Biden administration to “issue new, stricter policies to reduce the flow of people across the border.”

THE KICKER

“The Republican Party’s effort to use the exaggerated ‘border crisis’ — naturally with the propagandistic assistance of Fox News and other stars in the right-wing media constellation — as a major vote-getter has failed,” James North wrote for The New Republic following last month’s midterm elections, voicing a common sentiment on the left.

  • “Such efforts are, by now, a rote occurrence in the late stages of election season; this is where fearmongering over migrant ‘caravans’ has become a traditional sight.”

SUPERCUT: 2 Minutes of the GOP Brawling Over Who’s Going to Lead ‘MAGA’

Republicans have been fiercely divided over their next generation of leadership, from House speaker to RNC chair to 2024 presidential nominee.

THE 4PM POLL: Who should be the next speaker of the House?


Send us your thoughts about this poll or anything else at .

With Kevin McCarthy struggling to get the votes he needs to become speaker, a group of lawmakers has approached No. 2 leader Steve Scalise about being the GOP’s backup plan, Politico Playbook reported Wednesday.

YESTERDAY’S RESULTS

In Tuesday’s poll, we asked: “Are you Team Boebert or Team MTG?”

  • 33% of you said both.
  • 23% said neither.
  • 22% said Team Boebert.
  • 22% said Team MTG.

FROM THE MAILBAG

Robert wrote to us to say, “Lauren by far. MTG just has her head up Trump’s *ss. Not what we need.”

Who’s Having a Bad Day on Twitter: @AOC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was called out by fellow Twitter users for her questionable “clap back” to a GOP tweet highlighting Americans’ financial insecurity.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Is Ukraine Republicans’ No. 1 Priority?

 

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A day before Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s surprise visit to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said helping Ukraine win its war against Russia is the “No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans.” But later Tuesday, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy vowed “no more blank checks” for Ukraine after Republicans take the majority next session.

THE 4PM: A HIGHLIGHT REEL OF TODAY’S NEWS. FOR CONSERVATIVES. EVERY AFTERNOON AT 4PM.