Republican activists have tried and failed for decades to end Democrats' near-monopoly on power in California.

• More than a week after the Palisades Fire erupted — and with three major infernos still burning — Republicans believe this is their moment, Axios' Zachary Basu writes from LA.

🚒 Elon Musk and his allies are waging a ruthless information war in California — flooding the zone with allegations of gross mismanagement by the state's Democrats.

• The targets are familiar: DEI programs at the LA Fire Department, undocumented immigrants, red tape — even aid to Ukraine.
• "The real red pill will come when people try to get permits to rebuild their homes and face multiyear waits," Musk wrote on X.

😨 The big picture: Musk's bluster aside, Democrats acknowledge they face serious challenges in California that predate the fires — and that their supermajority in the legislature makes it difficult to blame Republicans.

• Crime, homelessness, illegal immigration, high prices and an intractable housing crisis helped Trump increase his vote share in 45 of California's 58 counties in 2024.

The short-term political danger is most acute for LA Mayor Karen Bass, who's up for reelection next year. She's been pilloried for traveling to Ghana a day after the National Weather Service warned of dangerous fire conditions.

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who's expected to run for president in 2028, has expressed a desire to work with Trump on the recovery effort.

🥊 Reality check: The main beneficiaries of California's backlash have been independents and moderate Democrats — not Republicans, and certainly not the strain of MAGA Republicans publicly agitating for a revolution.

• Go deeper.

🔋 California talker! "Burning Teslas Add to Toxic Mix of Pollution Delaying LA Return: Electric cars add a new dimension to the mess left by fires ... Specialized removal means longer delays for victims." (Bloomberg)

Eight years ago, Donald Trump took office with a dark message about "American carnage" — a nation ravaged by crime, poverty and drugs.

• As he returns to the White House on Monday, his team is stressing "unity" and "light," Axios' Erin Doherty writes.
• The weekend's pre-inauguration festivities have optimistic, hopeful themes, including a "One America, One Light" prayer service.

🕯️What they're saying: "Light signifies hope, it signifies a new beginning, it signifies a pathway forward," a person familiar with Trump's inauguration plans told Axios.

• "It's really something that has been a theme for the inaugural, yes, but also a guiding principle for our team over the past couple months."

Between the lines: Trump and his inner circle feel vindicated and validated after winning the popular and electoral votes, and see a broad MAGA mandate.

🥊 Reality check: Trump has tried to play the role of unifier before. It hasn't lasted.

• Trump called for national unity after surviving an assassination attempt last summer. His speech at the Republican convention — his first after the shooting — began with a reflective, positive tone about unity.
• Go deeper.

💡 "Face into it": In an exit interview for last night's Finish Line, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients tells Jim VandeHei and me how private-sector strategies informed his government leadership. 8 tips.

Just about all the biggest names in tech will be in Washington on Monday for President-elect Trump's inauguration — a much different scene than the beginning of his first term, Axios' Sam Baker writes.

• TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is the latest addition to the Big Tech guest list for Trump's swearing-in — a day after his company's app is set to be banned in the U.S.

💻 Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are also planning to attend, according to media reports.

• Elon Musk will be there, too.

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Mayors across the country are warning of a severe and worsening housing shortfall, Axios' Sareen Habeshian reports from a new survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, with the American Institute of Architects.

• 89% of the mayors surveyed said the federal government should provide flexible and direct funding for cities to address housing shortages. The mayors want more low-income housing credits and housing vouchers.

⚡️ The big picture: There aren't enough homes in the U.S. to keep up with demand. Some estimates put the total housing shortage in the millions of units.

• The U.S. Conference of Mayors, which opens its 93rd Winter Meeting in Washington today — with 270+ mayors in town — sees housing as a "national crisis [that] calls for a national response."

Read the 20-page report ... Share this story.

Mark Zuckerberg is living his best life in the Trump 2.0 era, despite the president-elect's campaign threat to jail him, Axios Pro Rata author Dan Primack writes.

• Meta has been at the front of the pack of tech companies repositioning themselves for Trump's Washington.
• Not only has Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago and donated to Trump's inauguration, but conservatives also cheered his changes to Facebook's fact-checking policies and his comments about the need for "masculine energy" in the workplace.

🔮 All of that could pay off for Meta when it comes to future regulation. And it's given Zuckerberg the confidence to scrap content-moderation and workplace culture policies that appear to have privately chafed him for years.

• A ban on TikTok — if it were to actually take effect — would also benefit Zuckerberg. Meta would capture more new advertising spending than any other company if TikTok disappears in the U.S., according to an eMarketer analysis.

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Nineteen states have passed laws requiring adult websites to verify that users are older than 18 — and the Supreme Court could soon give more states a green light to follow suit, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes.

• The justices indicated this week that they're likely to uphold Texas' age-verification law.

🔒 How it works: Age verification laws typically require adult websites to implement a way of checking users' ages, often via government-issued IDs.

• The laws are meant to prevent underage kids from accessing pornographic websites. Critics say they raise privacy and First Amendment concerns.

💬 "Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy," Pornhub parent company Aylo said.

• Some adult sites, including Pornhub, have decided to go dark in states with age verification rules.

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Filmmaker David Lynch, whose family announced yesterday that he had died at age 78, was one of the rare artists whose vision was so distinctive that his name became an adjective.

• "Lynchian" has been used to describe any number of surreal, unsettling films — but no one ever truly replicated Lynch's touch.
• "He's one of those filmmakers who was influential but impossible to imitate," Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh told AP.

🎬 Lynch's work, including "Blue Velvet" and "Twin Peaks," often depicted dark, evil forces lurking just below the surface of idyllic Americana.

• But what made his films unique, Axios' Sam Baker writes — and what "Lynchian" copycats often miss — was Lynch's sincere affection for the simple, small-town, cherry-pie-and-black-coffee world.
• In addition to being a director, Lynch was an amateur furniture maker, painter and outspoken evangelist for the Bob's Big Boy restaurant chain.

He might have been "the first populist surrealist — a Frank Capra of dream logic," legendary film critic Pauleen Kael once wrote of Lynch.

• Read the NYT obit (gift link).

"Sex and the City" fans have been snapping photos in front of 66 Perry Street — the brownstone that served as the exterior for Carrie Bradshaw's apartment — for years.

• I couldn't help but wonder ... Isn't this still someone's house? And are they maybe somewhat annoyed that their front stoop is a tourist attraction?
• It is. And they are.

✋ New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission signed off this week on a request to install a gate in front of the famous stairs, to keep fans further away from the front door.

• "I'd hoped for literally decades that this would pass. But at this point, ... even someone as stubborn as I am has to admit that this isn't going away in the near future," said Barbara Lorber, who owns the three-unit building, told the N.Y. Times.

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