Good morning and welcome back to The Elective. We passed the one-year mark of President Trump’s second term on Tuesday. By the time he leaves office three years from now, the first Iron Man movie will be more than 20 years old, and 2059 will be just as far away as 1999.

Anywayyyyy, the sale of (about half of) TikTok’s U.S. operations to a group of American investors is set to close today, and they’re already looking to sink their teeth into Hollywood.

WORLD

🥶 Trump says he has a “framework” deal for Greenland

The U.S. is not going to use force to take Greenland, but we still really, really need it. We’re also not going to tariff you anymore for defending Greenland. Also, we demand "immediate negotiations" to discuss our imminent purchase of Greenland. Also, Hamas is going to get "blown away" if they don't disarm. And, also, the 2020 election was stolen (the fans love hearing the hits).

That about sums up President Trump’s speech on Wednesday at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in the resort town of Davos, Switzerland.

• The WEF is basically exactly what its name suggests: a forum about the world and the global economy.

• It’s a nonprofit meeting of powerful people from business, politics, and academia to talk about their hopes and plans.

We’ve been at this for a while now, and Trump still hasn’t backed away from his desire for U.S. ownership of the world’s largest island. He's repeatedly refused to rule out using military force to take Greenland from Denmark and recently told Norway's prime minister that he no longer felt obligated to "think purely of Peace" since he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize last year (the winner is chosen by a board selected by Norway’s parliament). He even leaked text conversations with European leaders.

• In response to Trump’s threats, Denmark and its pals sent some military assets to the island to beef up security.

• Trump responded by threatening them all with 10% tariffs.

In his speech at Davos, President Trump eased up on some of those points and clarified his case for Greenland. The tariff threats are gone (the stock market loved that change), he agreed not to use force to take it, and revealed that he'd formed "the framework of a future deal” for the island.

• He may have backed away from the tariff threat, but the European Union had already acted and suspended its recent trade deal with the U.S.

• He also managed to get into a tiff with the Canadians over missile defense.

And, as any good American in the comment section does, he reminded them to thank us for winning WW2: “Without us right now, you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese.”

The deal: Trump didn’t give many details on that “future deal,” but did say he negotiated it with NATO leader Mark Rutte, that it affects “the entire Arctic region” rather than just Greenland, and that it’s “the ultimate long-term deal.”

• The White House later added a few notes: If the deal goes through, the U.S. will achieve “all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland, at very little cost, forever.”

• Further details will be released as they’re finalized by “all parties involved.”

GOVERNMENT

🏛️ Some congressional committees are full of nerds who write intricate policies on taxes or niche scientific issues. Others are full of camera lovers who squeeze in little bouts of work between yapping sessions on cable news. The House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee (commonly called “Oversight”) is chock full of the latter. It’s a powerful committee, though, that actually does have an important role: investigate the federal government for screw-ups and illegal activity. In practice, though, its members spend most of their time taking potshots at partisan opponents. That said, its members agreed this week to a big bipartisan deal: hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoenas related to the congressional investigation of Jeffrey Epstein (“you legally have to come talk to us” — “no thanks”).

⛪️ The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division is investigating after 30-40 protestors livestreamed themselves storming into a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, because one of its associate pastors is a high-ranking local official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the DOJ, the protestors may be in big legal doodoo. The 1994 FACE Act makes it a federal crime to "intimidate or interfere" with anyone trying to exercise their religious freedom at a "place of religious worship” (it also bans similar protest activities at abortion clinics). On a related note, the DOJ prosecutors are also investigating five state politicians, including Gov. Tim Walz and the mayor of Minneapolis, for allegedly obstructing federal immigration actions.

🏠️ President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that he says will help make housing more affordable. The order hopes to prevent big Wall Street firms from buying up tons of single-family homes. The only problem? The president alone doesn't have that power. As a result, the order doesn't ban the practice outright. Instead, it directs some federal agencies, like the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission, to scrutinize the purchases for potential violations of antitrust laws. It directs others, like the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to use existing federal law to prevent the buys where possible.

COURTS

⚖️ Johnson wants two federal judges gone

Nobody enjoys getting fired. Thankfully, if you’re a federal judge, you can’t be fired. You serve for life. Except that’s not really true. Just like presidents, judges can be impeached and booted from office. And House Speaker Mike Johnson has two people in mind.

Huh? Johnson on Wednesday noted that impeachment is an "extreme measure" before adding that many federal judges "have gotten so far outside the bounds of where they're supposed to operate." In his view, it might be time for Congress to "lay down law" and "make an example of some of these egregious abuses."

Who? Republican congresscritters have it out for two judges in particular and have introduced articles of impeachment against both: District Judge James Boasberg of D.C. and District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland.

• They’re not fans of Boasberg because, last year, he tried to order a deportation plane to El Salvador to turn around mid-flight.

• They’re mad at Boardman over a low sentence she gave to the wannabe assassin of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Prosecutors wanted 30 years. Boardman pointed to the shooter’s trans identity and went with just 8.

Is this actually happening? Lolno. This is just politicians being politicians. Impeachment requires only a simple majority vote in the House. But two-thirds of the Senate has to agree. It’s only been done eight times in U.S. history, and those were mostly for judges who got convicted of crimes. The most recent was in 2010.

• If lightning strikes and one of ‘em does go down in flames, they might consider a second career in politics.

• Judge Alcee Hastings was impeached for bribery in 1989. Three years later, he was elected to Congress.

Meanwhile, over at the Supreme Court, justices dropped three new rulings on Tuesday. Despite the constant partisan bickering in D.C., all three were unanimous 9-0 decisions (one, two, three).

• In arguments on Wednesday, justices appeared ready to side with Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who says Trump has no legal right to fire her.

POLITICS

🏛️ Congress stares down another shutdown

Well, they have nine* days. Let’s see if they can get this thing done. The House of Representatives has until next Saturday, January 31, to pass its final four appropriations bills for 2026’s budget. If they don’t, say hello to Shutdown 2026™.

• This is done by, you guessed it, the House Appropriations Committee and its 12 subcommittees. Each subcommittee is supposed to write one bill that funds its slice of the government.

• And no, don’t be silly. The Budget Committee doesn’t decide any of this. They basically only deal with the big, topline numbers. The Appropriations Committee actually decides who gets what and cuts the checks.

Timeline: The government’s fiscal year starts on October 1. The money’s running out in January this year due to the short-term budget deal they passed to end last fall’s shutdown. If Congress can get this thing wrapped up by next week, they won’t have to start work on another budget until … the following week. That’s when the president’s 2027 budget request is due.

Situation: The House is hoping to vote on the final four bills today. The Senate will take them up next week when it gets back from its own much-needed vacation. One thing that could get in the way and cause another shutdown? A brewing fight over ICE funding.

*Technically speaking, they’re not in session next week. So they sort of only have two days…

Elsewhere in U.S. politics:

1. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro claims that, as part of the vetting process to become Kamala Harris’s VP in 2024, her team accused him of being an Israeli agent. Needless to say, things didn’t work out between them.

2. Former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is running for U.S. Senate in Minnesota as a Republican. Minnesota is a staunchly Democratic state that hasn’t elected a Republican senator since 2002.

3. Elon Musk just gave $10 million to a Super PAC (Campaigns have donation limits. Outside groups don’t.) supporting Trumpy businessman Nate Morris (R) in Kentucky. It’s his biggest-ever contribution to a Senate candidate.

TRIVIA

Congratulations to JD and Usha Vance on their growing family. The Second Lady announced on Tuesday that she’s pregnant with their fourth child. They’re expecting a baby boy sometime in “late July.” It’s been a hot minute since a Second Lady has given birth while her husband was in office — the most recent was 1870. Anyway, Usha grew up in San Diego. She met JD in law school and married him in 2014. Where did Usha Vance go to college?

Hint: She has three degrees from two universities, so you’ve got a few options on this one.

BRIEFS

● Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says most taxpayers “may see” tax refunds that are $1,000 higher than last year, thanks to tax law changes in last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill. A D.C.-based tax think tank, on the other hand, estimates a $750 increase.

● Iran's foreign minister said his country will return fire "with everything we have" if Trump follows through on his threat to attack. The Iranian government has spent the last few weeks killing anti-regime protestors by the thousands.

● As Congress debates extending the expired federal subsidies for health insurance bought on the Obamacare exchange, UnitedHealthcare says it will return any profits it makes from those plans this year to consumers. About 1 million people will benefit.

● During her ex-boyfriend’s trial, a friend of Barron Trump’s told a U.K. court that the president’s son “saved my life.” She FaceTimed him last year when her boyfriend started beating her up. Barron, from the U.S., “had someone call the police.”

● An "electrical issue" forced Air Force One to turn back as it tried to carry Trump to Europe on Tuesday. Two identical planes have been serving as Air Force One since 1991. Plans to build replacements are in progress, but seem to be stuck in the mud.

● JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that President Trump's proposed 10% cap on credit card interest rates would be an "economic disaster” that could prevent 80% of Americans from accessing credit cards at all due to stricter lending policies.

QUOTE

ANSWER

Would it help if we told you that, after graduating from law school, she clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts in 2017? That’s right, Usha Vance went to Harvard for undergrad. She followed that up with a master’s degree from Cambridge and then headed right on back to Harvard for law school. In hindsight, maybe hanging out in the library in high school wouldn’t have been such a bad idea after all…