Supreme Court Will Probably Just Let Trump Do Whatever He Wants, Don’t Even Think About Using a Sans-Serif Font at the State Department, and Bowser Absolutely Has Not Endorsed a Successor (Wink, Wink)

Good morning. We’re in for a cloudy and potentially rainy day, with highs around 47. Wind gusts could push 30 mph. More clouds overnight, with lows near 30. The Capital City Go-Go host the Maine Celtics tonight. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @kmcorliss.19 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.

This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.

A great book on my nightstand:

“The Ten Year Affair” by Erin Somers. To distract myself from life, I recently binged the latest season of Netflix’s “Love Is Blind” (which was even worse than the DC season, by the way). When I finished doing that, I figured I’d read something to scratch my enduring itch for romantic melodrama in a way that hopefully kills fewer of my brain cells. This newly released novel, which follows two suburban parents in one timeline where they cheat on their spouses together and another where they don’t (a la Sliding Doors), did just that.

Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:

Health to the no: Senate Republicans do not seem poised to extend lapsing Affordable Care Act tax credits, which help more than 20 million Americans pay for health care. (Politico) GOP lawmakers will present their proposal, written by Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo and Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy, for votes on Thursday—an alternative to Democrats’ plan to extend these subsidies for three more years. The Republican bill would allow these Obamacare subsidies to expire at the end of January and instead approve funding for health savings accounts, which would expressly not cover patient spending on abortion or “gender transition procedures.” A health care policy expert at Georgetown says this solution is the legislative equivalent of “offering people a 1-foot rope to get out of a 10-foot hole.” (NBC News) Probably neither party’s proposal will pass. (CNN)

Playing defense: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told members of Congress that he’s still deciding whether to release footage of the strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean that killed two survivors. (AP) The Pentagon reportedly considered sending survivors of another boat strike to the El Salvador prison CECOT, but ultimately repatriated them to their countries of origin. At a meeting that followed, officials decided any strike survivors should be sent either to their home nations or to another country altogether, apparently “to ensure survivors did not end up in the US judicial system, where court cases could force the administration to show evidence justifying President Trump’s military campaign in the region.” (NYT)

Call him daddy: During a Monday night interview with Politico, President Trump slammed Europe as a “decaying” region and called its leaders “weak.” Dasha Burns asked whether he plans to endorse any candidates in future European elections; “NATO calls me Daddy,” Trump replied. (Politico) He pressured Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign the latest draft of a peace plan, saying that Russia has the “upper hand” in its war against Ukraine. (Time) Meanwhile, he praised Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Axios) The president also urged Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to hang tight on the Supreme Court, fawned over Pope Leo‘s “serious MAGA” brother, and awarded his own economy a grade of A+++++. Just go ahead and read the full transcript. (Politico)

Many balls, various courts: The Supreme Court seems likely to gut the Voting Rights Act, enabling Republicans to gerrymander congressional districts in their favor. Justices will probably also vote to scrap federal policy that puts a cap on how much major party committees can spend on their leading candidates, a decision shaping up to be the most impactful campaign finance law ruling since the Citizens United case nixed limitations on interest group political spending in 2010. (Axios) The high court is also probably going to let Trump go ahead and fire members of the Federal Trade Commission. (SCOTUSblog) In Massachusetts, a federal judge spiked Trump’s sweeping order to forbid leasing of US lands and waters for projects involving his sworn nemesis: windmills. (NYT) In Colorado, a federal judge rejected a habeas petition from convicted election meddler Tina Peters, whom Trump has previously called for the release of. (CNN) In Manhattan, a federal judge has ordered the release of records related to the grand jury investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell, which is but one component of the Justice Department’s mandate to unseal files related to the case of her disgraced, deceased financier boyfriend and co-conspirator Jeffrey Epstein. (NYT)

Administration perambulation: US Customs and Border Protection is making moves to subject international tourists to five-year reviews of their social media history. (NYT) Trump said a bunch of stuff at a Pennsylvania rally yesterday, the first stop in his yearlong please-don’t-embarass-me-at-the-midterms national tour of sorts. (USA Today) Perhaps the only thing of note that the president shared during this speech: Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, the West Virginia National Guard member who was shot in DC just before Thanksgiving, stood up from bed yesterday. (Washington Post) Far-right influencer Mike Benz is now working in a special government employee capacity at the corpse of USAID, where he intends “to use the agency’s archives to substantiate his own allegations about USAID’s pernicious influence in the world.” (The Atlantic) Election conspiracy theorist Gregg Phillips, who once wrote on LinkedIn that he is a “a very vocal opponent of FEMA,” has been selected for a top role at the emergency management agency. (Washington Post) FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been accused of violating his organization’s ethics code (FIFA has an ethics code?) over his public displays of affection toward Trump. (The Athletic) Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to return to the Times New Roman font in all official correspondence, calling the Biden administration’s switch to Calibri a “wasteful DEIA program.” (Reuters)

Recently on Washingtonian dot com:

• These snapshots, taken by our staff photographer Evy Mages, capture 2025 in our region.

• A growing number of couples are using AI to navigate divorce, area lawyers say.

• The raccoon who got schnockered at an Ashland ABC store last week is now the face of a lucrative fundraising campaign led by Virginia’s Hanover County Animal Protection & Shelter.

Local news links:

• “If you like me, you’re going to love Kenyan,” DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said during a speech Monday night at the Economic Club of Washington, referring to DC Councilmember and mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie. “Wink, wink.” This statement is not to be interpreted as Bowser officially endorsing McDuffie—wink, wink. (NBC Washington)

• The Justice Department sued the Loudoun County School Board earlier this week, arguing that the district discriminated on the basis of religion in March when it disciplined two Christian students who allegedly harassed a transgender student for his use of the boys’ locker room at Stone Bridge High School. (WTOP)

• Activists with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund crashed a DC Public Service Commission hearing yesterday, protesting Washington Gas’s plan to replace hundreds of area gas lines. (WJLA)

• A local construction company behind major development projects in Navy Yard and NoMa will pay $1.5 million to settle allegations of wage theft. (WUSA9)

• Tom Perriello, the former Democratic congressional representative for Virginia’s right-leaning 5th District, will run for his old seat. (Washington Post)

• We’re just now getting word that eight African penguins hatched at the Maryland Zoo in the fall. The species is critically endangered. (Washington Post)

• Palate-cleansing discourse: Do streets in DC adequately honor their namesake states? Some deliberation among commenters: “New Jersey Ave. crosses E Street. Totally Springsteen.” “Maine Ave. has the fish market, which kinda gives lobster pound vibes?” “I have definitely seen Florida Man on Florida Ave.” (Washingtonian Problems/Instagram)