Morning Report — Trump slows his promises clock ...Middle East

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President-elect Trump is making a politician’s pivot from candidate to officeholder while resetting voters’ expectations about time and his sway.

During an hourlong press conference Monday at Mar-a-Lago, Trump amended campaign vows to fix some of the globe’s most intractable problems. He once said he’d end the war between Ukraine and Russia before taking office.

That’s a month away. Forging a lasting deal between Ukraine and Russia to end a war that began with Russia’s invasion will take longer, judging from Trump’s remarks about the scope of the conflict and his reticence to reveal if he’s spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Nov. 5.

“We are trying to get that war stopped, that horrible, horrible war,” he told reporters, apparently referring to his team. “It’s a tough one. It’s a nasty one. It’s nasty. People are being killed at levels that nobody’s ever seen.”

The largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, and Trump described seeing the images of “carnage” left behind in portions of Ukraine where rubble and wasteland are what remain after Russian shelling. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris this month during the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Trump during his victory speech last month said, “I will govern by a simple motto: Promises made, promises kept. We're going to keep our promises. Nothing will stop me from keeping my word to you, the people.”

He promised voters he would curb inflated prices for groceries and housing. During a recent interview with Time magazine, he conceded that lowering grocery bills will be “very hard.”

“It's hard to bring things down once they're up,” he said. “I think that energy is going to bring them [prices] down. I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down.”

Imposing tariffs on the goods of other countries entering the United States will make America “rich,” he repeated Monday. But plenty of business leaders and economists disagree, arguing the costs are shouldered by U.S. consumers.

The Hill: Trump tariff plan threatens to drive up gas prices.

House and Senate Republicans did not learn from Trump on Monday whether he wants to start the new Congress in 2025 with legislation to cut taxes or instead begin with measures to tackle immigration and energy, which Senate Republicans would prefer. The friction exists between the chambers because enacting tax, border security and energy changes takes time. And a lot can happen the longer Congress gnaws on issues. 

Trump — who spent much of his first term promising $1 trillion in infrastructure investments, a solution for so-called Dreamers who came to the U.S. as children, and repeal of the Affordable Care Act — left office accomplishing none of those aims.

The president-elect defended some of his more controversial Cabinet choices, such as Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to steer the Health and Human Services Department. Their confirmation hearings, anticipated in January, could be drawn out by witness testimony.

Trump’s defense of Kennedy underscored some of the hurdles in standing up a government with speed during transitions. And the ideological jumble within his Cabinet will slow governing.

“He’s going to be much less radical than you would think,” he told reporters. “I think he’s got a very open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there.”

The president-elect said Kennedy, a critic of vaccines, will not block the polio vaccine, which Trump said saved lives. On the other hand, Kennedy’s false assertions of scientific correlations in children between vaccines and autism bolster a need for additional research, the president-elect said. Responding to a question, Trump added he opposes vaccine mandates, such as at schools, in place for decades to safeguard public health.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage reports how Trump walked a tightrope Monday.

CNN: Trump threatened to take aim in court at more news organizations. He recently worked out a $15 million defamation settlement and apology with ABC News. He also mentioned targeting for what he called “election interference” CBS’s “60 Minutes,” The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll, and journalism’s Pulitzer Prize Board.

SMART TAKE FROM THE HILL'S BOB CUSACK:

In order to win back the Senate in 2026, Democrats are going to have to have a phenomenal recruiting class.

Republicans will be defending more seats than Democrats, but many of those seats are in ruby-red states such as Alabama, Arkansas and Idaho. Democrats also have to defend a number of seats in competitive states, including Georgia, Michigan, Colorado and Minnesota.

It will take a pickup of four seats for Senate Democrats to control the upper chamber in 2027. While the road exists for them to get there, it's a very narrow path.

But all is not lost for Democrats. History is not kind to second-term presidents in midterms and both parties usually overreach when they have control of Congress and the White House — as the GOP will possess next year. While Republicans should be pleased with the 2026 map, there are GOP incumbents who may have to fend off primaries. And those contests could shake up the overall battle for the Senate. 

Still, Democrats are going to have to go into reddish territory and win in places like Kentucky, Texas and/or Iowa. That will not be easy no matter which way the winds are blowing in the fall of 2026.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ The drone drama in New Jersey has amounted to nothing nefarious, according to special detectors, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said Monday. The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department wrote in a lengthy Monday statement, “We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.”

▪ For the second consecutive year, The Hill’s Changemakers report highlights two dozen pathfinders who are setting the pace and shaking things up at the Capitol and around the world. 

▪ A New York judge upheld a jury’s verdict that made Trump a felon, ruling his conviction in the hush money case is not voided by the Supreme Court’s new test for presidential immunity. 

LEADING THE DAY 

© The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite

GOVERNMENT FUNDING: Top Republicans are signaling some movement in government funding talks ahead of a looming Friday deadline. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters Monday that the “differences are narrowing” between all sides as they try to hash out the last significant funding deal in the divided Congress, but roadblocks remain.

Lawmakers were expected to roll out legislative text over the weekend. But those hopes were dashed as economic assistance for farmers emerged as a key sticking point in talks. Both sides traded blame over the weekend as negotiations over help for farmers appeared to flounder. While Cole said Monday that discussions are “moving in the right direction,” he acknowledged the aid as a “substantial” factor in talks.

“It’s both between the House and the Senate and Republicans and Democrats. So, they’re both institutional differences, and there are partisan differences,” Cole said. But he added “there are a lot fewer of them than there were 24 hours ago.”

Lawmakers widely expect Congress to clear their roadblocks: A government shutdown ahead of the holidays — and Trump’s inauguration — would have reverberating consequences in the House leadership races. Still, Congress will have another fast-approaching government funding deadline next year. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pledged to process all 12 annual appropriations bills when the stopgap expires in March.

The Senate is on track to vote on the country’s massive annual defense spending bill Wednesday, with signs that it will pass smoothly despite Democratic objections to language involving transgender care for minors and its massive $895.2 billion top line. Despite opposition from liberal Democrats and some apprehension from Republicans, the National Defense Authorization Act passed out of the House last week in a bipartisan 281-140 vote, with 81 Democrats voting in favor of it. 

▪ The Washington Post: House Republicans filed a brief in a Maine lawsuit over transgender medical care coverage for U.S. service members’ dependents, citing a transgender-care-related provision in a defense policy bill that was passed last week. 

▪ NBC News: The FBI has held classified briefings warning a handful of U.S. lawmakers that the Chinese Communist Party is working to create fake stories to portray them in a negative light because of their hawkish views of Beijing and support for Taiwan.

Tax lobbyists are worried the next Congress could endanger highly anticipated tax reform if it uses the first reconciliation bill to shore up immigration and border security funding. Tax cuts and credits ...

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