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Consumers set a massive record in holiday sales as people finally began to feel the pressure of inflation ease, New York Times business and policy reporter Lauren Hirsch told MSNBC's Jessica Layton on Thursday.

This follows a number of other reports from retailers showing healthy sales — and not just the traditionally solid online stores, they noted, but, in a more surprising twist, brick and mortar department store chains that have been bleeding market share for years.

A Democratic congresswoman tried to make sense of Donald Trump's recent threats over the Panama Canal.

The president-elect has threatened to have the U.S. retake control of the canal, claiming that Panama charges too much for using the waterway and warning that China has too much influence over the region, but Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told CNN that Trump's comments were nonsense.

During an appearance on CNN the morning after Christmas Day, a Democratic strategist was unable to pinpoint a reason why Donald Trump has unleashed a new wave of attacks on countries never mentioned during the 20204 presidential campaign.

Less than 24 hours after the president-elect went on a rage-bender on Truth Social, lashing out at Canada, Panama and Greenland, CNN host Sara Sidner began, "We don't recall Donald Trump campaigning to invade Panama and retake its famous canal. But there was the president-elect on the weekend threatening our Central American ally with punishment if it doesn't meet his demands."

Donald Trump has promised to cut energy costs, but an expert said some of his policies might end up hurting his own supporters.

The price of natural gas looks likely to jump despite record-high production, which could undermine the president-elect's campaign pledge, and political analyst Leah Wright Rigueur told CNN that energy costs are largely outside the government's control.

Appearing on CNN the morning after Christmas, a former Democratic member of the House dismissed business executives shoveling cash to Donald Trump for his inauguration after having pledged to never donate to election deniers following the Jan. 6 riot.

Reacting to a report from the Wall Street Journal that exposed at least 11 large corporations that have gone back on their vow to close their coffers to anyone tied to the insurrection that forced lawmakers to flee for their lives, ex-Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) said those execs are fooling themselves if they think they will get back in the president-elect's good graces.

Appearing on MSNBC on Christmas Day, former U.S. War College professor Tom Nichols dismissed out of hand Donald Trump's desire to take control of the Panama Canal as more "out-of-left-field" rambling.

Speaking with holiday host Yamiche Alcindor, Nichols was asked about Trump's sudden fascination with the canal which never came up during the 2024 presidential election.

After watching a clip of the president-elect telling a crowd at a Turning Point USA gathering, "It was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions — you’ve got to treat us fairly. And they haven’t treated us fairly. We will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly and without question. I’m not going to stand for it. So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly," Nichols was asked what Trump thinks he's doing.

ALSO READ: Why ABC settled a case they knew they would win — and why the Lincoln Project didn't

"He's probably got some pebble in his shoe about something that's happened in Panama that relates to his interests –– that's usually what provokes sort of out-of-left-field tirades from Donald Trump," he offered.

"It's important for people to remember that this is not simply -- this wasn't simply a gift put under a Christmas tree 45 years ago," he explained. "This is actually the relationship with Panama and the Panama canal is governed by a Senate-ratified treaty that exists that already lays out the relationship between the United States and Panama."

"When Donald Trump says 'Well, we'll just take it back,' you know, just as in his first term we'll be saying something using a phrase that we used a lot during those first four years, which is 'Things don't work that way," he added. "That's not how any of that works."

"So you know, he can say it and he can complain about it and he can get big cheers about it at conservative meetings, but that's not going to happen," he predicted.

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Appearing on CNN on Christmas morning, longtime political advisor Mark McKinnon claimed Donald Trump will have to hit the ground running after being sworn with a short window before he starts facing insurmountable hurdles.

Speaking with host Kasie Hunt. McKinnon, who has worked with both Democrats and Republicans, pointed out that the president-elect has slim majorities in both chambers of Congress and there will reach a point when GOP lawmakers will have to start considering their 2026 re-election prospects regardless of what Trump wants.

ALSO READ: Why ABC settled a case they knew they would win — and why the Lincoln Project didn't

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch conservative, pushed back after Newsmax host Chris Salcedo argued that President Joe Biden's pardons and commutations should be revoked because he wasn't "of sound mind."

"Sir, Joe Biden is commuting sentences for inmates on death row," Salcedo told Paxton in a Christmas Eve interview. "Some have suggested that since Robert Hur determined that Joe Biden wasn't of sound mind to stand trial for the crimes he committed, you know, stealing classified information from this country for over four decades, that a challenge to these pardons could be made based on Joe Biden not being of sound mind."

Stephen Moore, an economic adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, argued that a $419,470 cocaine study on rats was what was contributing "so much" to the U.S. national debt.

In a Tuesday interview on Fox News, Moore reacted to Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) annual "Festivus" list that complained about spending programs he opposed.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) faulted Barack Obama's former White House staffers after President Joe Biden declined to commute the death sentences for three federal inmates, including two racist murderers.

During a Christmas Eve interview with Fox News host John Roberts, Tenney griped about Democrats like Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who supports abortion rights but opposes the death penalty.

Donald Trump's incoming chairman of the Federal Communications Commission sent a stern letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger that's seen as a threat to other news media outlets, and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona warned that these preemptive moves could alienate voters.

Trump appointee Brendan Carr signaled that he would take a more active role policing the media industry, pointing to the $15 million defamation settlement ABC News reached with the president-elect, and Cardona expressed alarm that the incoming administration was already pursuing his perceived political enemies.

Donald Trump has raised eyebrows by once again suggesting the U.S. should buy Greenland — and CNN's Scott Jennings applauded that as "an amazing idea."

The president-elect has talked about taking control of the autonomous Danish territory in the past, and he's also recently suggested taking back the Panama Canal and joked about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being the "governor" of the “Great State of Canada."

Donald Trump assured voters during his campaign that he would lower prices on groceries and other items — but a former congressman called him out for already abandoning that promise.

Tech tycoons Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have donated $1 million each to Trump's inauguration despite his past attacks on them, and former Democratic lawmaker Max Rose said the president-elect is already siding with the rich and walking away from the policies he promised to voters.