Fearing political retribution and strained by new business challenges, media companies that once covered President-elect Trump with skepticism — and in many cases, disdain — are reconsidering their approach, Axios' Sara Fischer and Dave Lawler write.

• Why it matters: Trump's decisive victory in November has forced media executives to put their business interests ahead of their personal politics.

Case-in-point: Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, a longtime Democrat whose wife served as the ambassador to the Bahamas during the Obama administration, met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week, Axios confirmed.

• "Morning Joe" co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who railed against Trump for years, met with Trump in an hour-plus meeting at Mar-a-Lago last month, infuriating their loyal audience. Scarborough said the reaction showed "a massive disconnect ... between social media and the real world."

🔎 Zoom in: Amid a record media trust deficit, outlets once critical of Trump are now making overtures to the former and future president, and the Americans who voted for him.

• A week after Trump's victory, two executives from TelevisaUnivision, the parent of the largest U.S.-based Spanish-language broadcaster, flew to Mar-a-Lago so the president-elect could personally thank them for election support, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong vowed (on Fox News, no less) to balance out his editorial board with conservative voices. He also has discussed plans to add a digital "bias meter" for editorials and opinion columns.
• Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos (who, like Soon-Shiong, overruled his staff to kill a Harris endorsement) said at The New York Times' DealBook Summit that he's "actually very optimistic" about Trump's second term.

🖼️ The big picture: Compare that to the resistance media era that started in 2016, with outlets like The Washington Post garnering tough-on-Trump reputations (and thousands of subscriptions).

• This time around, national outlets — struggling to regain viewers and subscribers — are trying to signal they're no longer out for blood.

Between the lines: Another business consideration for news outlets reversing course is the legal risks associated with getting on Trump's bad side.

• ABC's $15 million defamation settlement with Trump shocked some legal experts who say ABC could've easily won the case. ABC has declined to say why it settled. But media onlookers see the settlement as a possible effort to avoid further scrutiny and legal attacks from the president-elect.

👀 What we're watching: Tech titans facing historic regulatory scrutiny are also scrambling to be inside Trump's tent this time.

• Meta, Amazon and Open AI have each donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Bezos all have met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago since the election.

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With 28 full days left in office, President Biden announced today he is commuting the sentences for 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life without possibility of parole.

• "Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss," Biden said in a statement. "But guided by my conscience and my experience, ... I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level."
• In a jab at President-elect Trump, Biden added: "In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."

Between the lines: The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities, AP reports.

• Three federal inmates still face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. ... 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ... and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

💡 Context: Biden in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used.

• There were 13 federal executions during Trump's first term, more than under any president in modern history. Biden faced recent pressure from advocacy groups urging him to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates.
• See the list.

🌐 Go deeper on Biden's legacy: Fareed Zakaria writes in a WashPost column that the "axis of upheaval" — Russia, China, Iran and North Korea — "is in much worse shape than it was four years ago. Some of this is good luck, but some is the product of good strategy and painstaking work. In any event, this new reality offers some real opportunities for President-elect Donald Trump to make significant gains over the next year." Gift link.

During his first rally-style speech since the election, President-elect Trump promised a "common-sense revolution," delighting the triumphant crowd at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest, at the Phoenix Convention Center.

• "Woke is bullsh*t," Trump — whose swift appointments and activist transition reflect his certainty about his second term — said at one point.
• "The people have given us their trust. And in return, we're going to give them the best Day 1, the biggest first week and the most extraordinary first 100 days of any president in American history."

In the desert address, Trump ...

• 🚢 Threatened to reassert control of the Panama Canal, contending shippers are charged "ridiculous" fees, and warning "it's falling into the wrong hands" — a reference to growing China influence. Panama's conservative president José Raúl Mulino said sovereignty is "not negotiable." Go deeper.
• 🏔️ Said he'll restore the name of Mount McKinley, North America's tallest mountain, which was renamed Denali, the Alaskan Native name, in 2015. Go deeper.
• 🥊 Scoffed at the notion he's ceding presidential power to Elon Musk: "No, no, that's not happening. ... Elon has done an amazing job. Isn't it nice to have smart people that we could rely on? ... So we want to thank him. But, no, he's not going to be president — that I can tell you. And I'm safe. You know why? He can't be. He wasn't born in this country." (Musk was born in South Africa.)

🗺️ In a personnel announcement a few hours later, Trump declared: "For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity."

• During his first term, Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, but was rebuffed by the Danes. Go deeper.

🗞️ Wall Street Journal headline: "Trump Threatens to Take Control of Panama Canal, Greenland."

• More takeaways.

🪖 Go deeper on Trump's Pentagon picks: Trump named Stephen Feinberg as deputy secretary of Defense, Bridge Colby as undersecretary for policy, Michael Duffey as undersecretary for acquisitions and sustainment, and Emil Michael as undersecretary for research and engineering. All face Senate confirmation hearings. (N.Y. Times gift link)

House Democrats are sending an early warning signal to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that he shouldn't count on them to rescue him again, Axios' Andrew Solender writes.

• Why it matters: Johnson will have the barest of majorities next year — and he's staring down growing unrest within the Republican conference.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has said he'll vote against Johnson's reelection as speaker on Jan. 3, with several other Republicans saying they're undecided.

• With a majority as narrow as 219-215, Johnson may only be able to afford to lose one vote.

State of play: At a caucus meeting Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) signaled to his members that relations with Johnson had entered a new, significantly worse phase.

• He pointed to Johnson's reversal on the funding deal last week and letting communications go dark at times, according to three lawmakers and a fourth source present for his remarks.
• House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said won't personally ask Democrats to bail out Johnson going forward as they did in May.

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⚡ New this morning: The Biden administration said it launched an investigation into China's semiconductor sector, which officials claim threatens U.S. national security, Axios' Courtenay Brown writes.

• Why it matters: It is a first step toward possible measures, like tariffs, that might seek to squeeze China-made chips out of U.S. products.

The investigation will largely focus on China's foundational semiconductors — key inputs in automobiles, medical devices and military defense systems.

• These are distinct from advanced AI chips, though those have also been targeted by Biden.

🧠 Reality check: With one month left in office, the fate of the investigation — and the ultimate remedies — rests with President-elect Trump.

• The probe may take as long as a year to complete.

White House fact sheet ... Share this story.

Palantir and Anduril, the massive defense-tech companies, "are in talks with about a dozen competitors to form a consortium that will jointly bid for U.S. government work," the Financial Times reports.

• Why it matters: The group wants to disrupt legacy defense contractors — think Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing — who hold a huge slice of the Pentagon's $850 billion budget.

Elon Musk's SpaceX and OpenAI are among the companies linked to the consortium, the FT found.

• "We are working together to provide a new generation of defense contractors," said one person involved in developing the group.

The consortium could be announced as early as January.

• Keep reading (gift link).

A new (somewhat in jest) holiday celebration is emerging to celebrate today — the day before the day before Christmas...

• Christmas Adam!

Why it matters: Dec. 23, embraced by some evangelical churches and families, comes from a pun: "Because Adam came before Eve," the N.Y. Times writes.

• It's also a "practical way to compete in a crowded holiday season, by offering church services a day before the holiday actually starts."

Christmas Adam is just a "silly generic term," the Rev. Sean G. Morris of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, Tenn., told the Times.

• "Dec. 24 gets an official title ... So what the heck, let's give December the 23rd a semiofficial imprint as well."

Keep reading (gift link).

Charlie Woods, the 15-year-old son of golf great Tiger Woods, hit his first hole-in-one yesterday during the final round of the PNC Championship in Orlando.

• The tournament — which the Woods duo narrowly lost in a playoff — features 20 champions competing alongside a family member.

⛳ Zoom in: "It was a perfect seven-iron," Charlie Woods told the Golf Channel. "It was awesome. I didn't think it went in ... until I go up there and see it."

• It was 48-year-old Tiger Woods' first competitive event since the British Open in July.

Go deeper ... Watch the hole-in-one.