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Vice President-elect JD Vance, the Republican Senator from Ohio, is facing criticism both domestically and internationally for endorsing and seemingly defending an op-ed by Elon Musk that is supportive of a far-right German political party reportedly linked to neo-Nazis.

The New York Times late last month described the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, as “a group with ties to neo-Nazis whose youth wing has been classified as ‘confirmed extremist’ by German domestic intelligence.” The paper of record also noted that AfD has been “called a threat to German democracy” by Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and others.

Alina Habba, President-elect Donald Trump's nomination to serve as counselor to the president, took issue Monday with the current president's gripe that he made a mistake choosing Merrick Garland for attorney general.

President Joe Biden reportedly regrets pulling out of the presidential race and nominating Garland for the nation's top law enforcement official, complaining that Garland didn't move fast enough to prosecute Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, and aggressively prosecuting Hunter Biden.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) suggested a new baseless theory about what he believes led up to a man ramming a pickup truck through a crowd in New Orleans in an attack that killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more.

The moment came Thursday during Johnson’s interview with Fox Business when the Louisiana congressman – who received a classified briefing from intelligence agencies and the FBI – was asked to weigh in on the New Year’s Day attack.

Far-right Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters appeared to suggest in a video posted to X on Thursday that the "radical left" is using schools to create more terrorists like the perpetrators of the horrific attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas this week.

"What a terrible day when we see terrorist attacks on American soil," said Walters, in a video shot from the interior of his car. "It's absolutely tragic and we've got to look as a country on how these things happen. We absolutely have to shut down the border, we can't allow terrorists to come across the border."

Donald Trump will conduct four types of activities when he reenters the White House that Americans should watch for, legal analyst Benjamin Wittes wrote in a column Thursday.

Writing for Lawfare, Wittes said those baskets are the Midnight Judges Basket, the Nominations Basket, the Day One Basket, and the Longer Term Basket.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stepped into the boiling debate over the H1-B visa program and took aim at tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The progressive senator on Thursday called out Musk for his passionate defense of U.S. companies hiring foreign workers through the program – which reportedly includes Tesla. And he had his own theory of why the world’s richest man is in favor of the visa program.

President Joe Biden was presented with a plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities if Iran moves to develop a nuclear weapon before he leaves office on Jan. 20, reported Axios on Thursday.

The plan, presented by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, "would be an enormous gamble from a president who promised he would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, but who would also risk handing a fresh conflict over to his successor. Biden did not green light a strike during the meeting and has not done so since, the sources said," according to Barak Ravid.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is still the favorite to hold the speaker's gavel when the new Congress is sworn in on Friday. But he faces a significant roadblock as one member of his conference is vowing to not give him his vote.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is firm in his opposition to Johnson, which could complicate the Louisiana Republican's hopes of winning the speakership on the first ballot. Massie remains the only House Republican who has said he would unconditionally oppose Johnson's bid, though Republicans' extremely slim majority (currently 219-215) means that there is little room for other defections assuming full Democratic attendance and unified Democratic support for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

Democrats need to look to how former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) approached politics to find their voice against President-elect Donald Trump, columnist Ryan Teague Beckwith wrote for MSNBC.

"McConnell played American politics like a cutthroat game in which the only goal was to win the next election," wrote Beckwith Thursday.

Far-right pro-Trump influencer and failed Florida congressional candidate Laura Loomer is continuing her weekslong feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk, accusing him of twisting his own platform's rules to censor and punish her — but in her haste to try to gather evidence, she earned a swift fact-check from a reporter she claimed did the same as her.

Loomer, a self-described "proud Islamophobe" who has spoken favorably about white nationalism, has repeatedly attacked Musk over his support of the H1-B visa program, accusing him of infiltrating the MAGA movement and corrupting Trump's inner circle with his money. As she did this, the platform revoked her premium features and demonetized her account.

Texas has seen an increase in newborn babies placed in dumpsters after the state passed a restrictive anti-abortion law, a Salon writer noted Thursday. This adds to a startling rise in maternal mortality, while many states are trying to hide the information.

Amanda Marcotte pointed to data showing a dramatic increase in infant mortality after Texas banned abortion in the state. The Washington Post also documented that babies are dying after being abandoned.

In less than three weeks, President-elect Donald Trump will be serving his second term and he will be joined in Washington by small GOP majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Trump, during his first term, often clashed with the more traditional conservatives in his administration — from former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to ex-White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly. But this time, he is hoping to avoid that by nominating a lot of far-right MAGA loyalists, including Kash Patel for FBI director, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for U.S. attorney general.