President-elect Trump — whose power was immense after his comeback win, enhanced by the coming full Republican control of Congress — has expanded that power substantially in the nine weeks since his victory, Axios' Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.

• Why it matters: It's rare, if not unprecedented, for a newly elected leader to have so many world leaders and CEOs shift their policies or posture so blatantly during the transition to curry favor with a new president.

Trump will start his presidency with a very loyal GOP Senate and House, a vastly empowered MAGA-friendly media and information ecosystem, businesses scrambling to make amends or further improve cozy relationships, and money flowing fast into his family's business endeavors.

• His Democratic opposition is weak and largely powerless — although Republicans' tiny margin in the House will be a constant threat.

In two short months …

• Major tech CEOs traveled to meet Trump in person and cut $1 million checks to his inauguration.
• Meta shifted top personnel and its social media policing policies to match Trump's interests.
• With the news media more fractured and less trusted than ever, outlets that once covered Trump with skepticism — and even disdain — have made surprise overtures to the president-elect.
• Democrats' post-2016 "resistance" movement is in complete disarray: Some lawmakers instead want to work with the Trump administration on bipartisan goals, with border security and his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) emerging as two early examples.
• Trump-aligned nationalist movements are disrupting long-liberal foreign allies — from Canada to Britain to Germany — in part because of aggressive information wars waged by Elon Musk and his supporters.
• Two billionaire CEOs announced big U.S. investments to kick off Trump press conferences at Mar-a-Lago: Before Christmas, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son announced plans by the Japanese company to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. This week, the UAEW's Hussain Sajwani, a close business partner of the Trump family, made a $20 billion commitment to build data centers in the U.S.
• Trump moved the Overton window on American expansion by publicly musing about seizing or acquiring Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal — a reminder to the world and media that Trump is willing to say or do anything. Trump even said he'd move to rebrand "the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring ... what a beautiful name."
• Trump is by far the most popular politician in Israel, giving him enormous leverage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition is weak and polls are bad. Trump said at his press conference this week that if the hostages in Gaza aren't "back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East." With Trump's prodding, Bibi sent his negotiators back to Doha, Qatar, three weeks ago to resume indirect talks with Hamas in an effort to reach a deal by Jan. 20.
• The Trump effect in the Middle East extends beyond Israel. Iran is trying to keep a low profile in the region, shelved a retaliation plan against Israel, signaled several times it wants to negotiate a new nuclear deal and is uncharacteristically staying out of today's presidential election in Lebanon.
• Trump has raised a record $170 million for his inauguration — with so much still coming in that VIP events are over-capacity and "some donors have taken the unusual step of offering donations as high as $1 million without receiving anything in return," the N.Y. Times reports (gift link).
• Trump is already accepting funds for a future presidential library. The Times found Trump's allies have raised more than $250 million since Election Day for his political projects.
• As Jeff Bezos cozies up to Trump, Amazon Prime Video made a $40 million deal for streaming and theatrical rights to a documentary with behind-the-scenes access to Melania Trump — with her as an executive producer.

🥊 Reality check: This is raw, transactional power — based in many cases on efforts to curry favor, as opposed to clear-cut inspiration or ideological embrace.

🔎 Between the lines: Trump empowers himself and his entourage by castigating traditional media, which is more fractured and less trusted than ever.

🔮 What to watch: The Supreme Court, with its decisive conservative majority, will offer a key test of how far Trump can press his influence beyond the executive and legislative branches.

• Trump filed a brief last month asking the court to delay the Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold off or banned in the U.S. Oral arguments will take place tomorrow.
• Trump also has asked the high court to block tomorrow's sentencing in his New York hush-money case, arguing presidential immunity should extend to the transition period.

The bottom line: It's easy to offer symbolic gestures in good times. Trump's true test will come when he has to pick winners and losers — and the losers decide how to react.

• Share this column ... Axios' Zachary Basu, Marc Caputo and Barak Ravid contributed reporting.

The Hollywood Hills blazed as the worst wildfires in L.A. history raged deep into the storied heartland of the film industry, Reuters reports.

• A crescent of flame squeezed L.A. in a huge pincer visible from space.

130,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations.

• Five people have been killed and at least 2,000 structures have been destroyed or damaged since the fires erupted Tuesday.

"This firestorm is the big one," L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said after rushing back to the city, cutting short an official trip to Ghana.

Being there: The Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills started last evening as officials were holding a news conference to update residents on efforts to fight massive fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, AP reports.

• The Hollywood Walk of Fame was bustling and the streets around the TCL Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds were packed with stop-and-go traffic. Sirens blared and low-flying helicopters flew overhead to dump water on the flames, which were only about a mile away.

Within a few hours, firefighters had made major progress. L.A. Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott said: "We hit it hard and fast, and Mother Nature was a little nicer to us today than she was yesterday."

• More photos.

President-elect Trump and top advisers previewed ambitious plans for 100 executive orders in a meeting with Senate Republicans in the Capitol last night, Axios' Stef Kight reports.

• Why it matters: Trump let senators know he's ready to roll, especially on immigration, even before Congress tackles his aggressive agenda.

Stephen Miller — Trump's longtime immigration adviser, and incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy, and homeland security adviser — dove into how the administration will use executive power to clamp down on the border and immigration starting Day 1.

📜 One big border plan, according to multiple sources: reinstating Title 42,

• The pandemic-era public health policy allows for rapid expulsion of migrants at the border — preventing them from a shot at asylum. There were millions of Title 42 expulsions from early in the COVID pandemic, until President Biden ended the policy in 2023.

Other executive actions and plans outlined by Miller:

• More aggressively using a part of the Immigration and Nationality Act — 287(g) — which allows some state and local law enforcement to assist in some of the duties of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
• Building the border wall, constructing soft-sided facilities to hold migrants and implementing other asylum restrictions.

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L.A. wind-whipped fires are reopening a debate about how the insurance industry can model and manage risk, as large-scale disasters become frighteningly common, Axios' Ben Berkowitz reports.

• Why it matters: California's insurance market is in the middle of major reforms to deal with the cost of fire. But they may not be fast enough given the billions of dollars at stake.

Some market experts warn California may need to consider becoming a primary insurer for fire risk, much as it already did with earthquakes and Florida did with hurricanes.

The bottom line: Heavily populated parts of the U.S. — particularly in California and Florida — could become virtually uninsurable due to climate change, Axios' Erica Pandey reports.

President-elect Trump and some GOP allies are seizing on the wildfires to try to score political points against California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a potential 2028 contender for the White House, Axios' Erin Doherty reports.

• As the deadly fires spread yesterday, Trump claimed Newsom had "refused to sign" a water restoration plan "that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the north" to flow into other parts of the state, including those being scorched by the fires.
• "I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!" Trump posted on his Truth Social.

Newsom's office said there's "no such document as the water restoration declaration — that is pure fiction."

• Newsom "is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need," his office said.

Reality check: There's no evidence that redirecting the state's water supply could have prevented this week's devastation.

• Share this story.

President-elect Trump's last-minute effort to give TikTok a stay of execution is one more twist in a case that already scrambles every ideological dividing line, Axios court watcher Sam Baker writes.

• The court is set to hear oral arguments tomorrow over TikTok's future. A new, overwhelmingly bipartisan law requires the app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell TikTok by Jan. 19 or shut it down within the U.S.

State of play: Republicans in Congress supported the law, which President Biden signed, and GOP attorneys general have weighed in to help Biden defend the law in court.

• Trump previously advocated for a ban, then flip-flopped. He filed an amicus brief on Dec. 27 urging the court to pause the law.

Between the lines: The conservative Supreme Court usually (but not always) sides with people making First Amendment claims. And it usually (but not always) sides with the federal government when the government says there's a national-security issue.

• In this case, it won't be able to do both.

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A new poll of college students found that half view the suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killing extremely or somewhat favorably — and 48% believe the crime was justified, Axios' Erica Pandey reports.

• 81% of the students polled by Generation Lab said they have an extremely or somewhat negative view of Thompson, the victim.

Asked with whom they sympathize more, 45% of respondents chose suspect Luigi Mangione, 17% chose Thompson, and 37% said neither.

• Explore the data.

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