Two seemingly unrelated behind-the-scenes Mar-a-Lago dramas capture the shock soon to pound Washington, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei write in a "Behind the Curtain" column:

• Elon Musk, the most powerful and persistent voice in President-elect Trump's ear, has been relentless in pushing "radical reform" of, well, almost everything. As he sits next to Trump discussing administration picks, Musk often asks if the person embodies "radical reform" — massive cuts and blow-it-up-to-rebuild instincts.
• Trump has been telling friends he denied Robert Lighthizer — his pro-tariff, China-hawk U.S. trade representative in the first term — a Cabinet role because he's "too scared to go big." He's loyal but too timid to take big, risky swings, Trump contends.

Why it matters: Trump advisers are running out of words to describe what's coming in January. They say he feels empowered and emboldened, vindicated and validated, and eager to stretch the boundaries of power.

• He's egged on by Musk and others — and picking trusted brawlers for the toughest, most controversial tasks.

💥 You got a big taste of this yesterday:

1. Trump named real estate developer Charles Kushner — father of Trump's son-in-law, Jared — as ambassador to France. During the final month of his first term, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, who had served federal time after being prosecuted by Chris Christie for preparing false tax returns, witness retaliation and making false statements to the FEC.
2. Less than six hours later, Trump announced he picked Kash Patel, one of the hardest of his first-term hardliners, as FBI director. That means the incumbent, Chris Wray, who's just over seven years into a 10-year term (so the job could transcend any one presidency), will resign or be fired. A transition insider told us the Patel pick is a "personal message to the left that was cheering on Jack Smith" — the special counsel who was prosecuting Trump, and plans to step down before Trump can fire him.

👀 Between the lines: Many in Trump's inner circle are gleeful at the aggressiveness of the Cabinet picks — former Fox News co-host Pete Hegseth, a decorated Army veteran who now faces questions about his treatment of women, to lead the Pentagon ... RFK Jr. to head HHS ... and former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

• All of them want to disrupt the organizations they've been picked to lead. Patel told podcaster Shawn Ryan: "I'd shut down the FBI Hoover Building on Day 1, and reopen the next day as a museum of the Deep State." Patel told MAGA podcast warrior Steve Bannon last year: "We're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you, whether it's criminally or civilly."
• The transition insider told us Trump "no longer listens to people, usually senators, who tell him 'that's not how it's done' or 'it doesn't work that way.' He no longer accepts that rationale."

"Every day is Christmas Day," Steve Bannon told us during an early flurry of announcements. "We are fixed bayonets on these nominations."

• Bannon called Patel, who sells pro-Trump merch with "K$H" logos, his "One AND Only!!" choice to lead the FBI.
• After yesterday's announcements, Bannon texted us, as if he were dictating old-school headlines: "Wildest Dreams — Now to Darkest Nightmare as the Established Order Goes Scorched Earth to Defeat the President During Confirmation ... MAGA Best @ Scorched Earth Battles."

Column continues below.

Chemistry with Trump is a huge factor in the most controversial picks, Mike and Jim write.

• "These are people that get him and understand him," a longtime Trump confidant told us. "Last time, there were lots of people who didn't understand the vision or buy into the vision."

Another transition source tells us Patel was close to being named deputy FBI director, which would have been much less confrontational. But the former frontrunner for the job, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, flunked his Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump.

• Bailey "looked the part" but "just didn't have the presence in the room," we're told.

🔭 The big picture: A tweet by Musk this past week captured the Mar-a-Lago vibe. "It's this time or never," he said about structural reform of the federal government.

• Musk, who said in 2018 that he was sleeping on a Tesla factory floor to stay on top of a production problem, has made Mar-a-Lago his new factory floor. He says the incoming administration is working "7 days a week."
• We're told Musk is pressing to instantly upend agencies by keeping the fewest possible people — like he did when he bought Twitter, now X.

Trump confidants tell us their plans are radical only compared to the status quo. "We're looking for a return to normalcy," the insider said. "Nothing radical. Used to be common sense in this country (and every country) that you take care of your people first before getting generous with others."

• "There are a million examples of things that need to be taken care of at home before we look past our shores, and we're gonna focus on those things," the insider added.

🥊 Reality check: Patel faces a potentially explosive Senate confirmation fight.

• "Current and former law enforcement officials," The New York Times notes, "have worried that a second Trump term would feature an assault on the independence and authority of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department, and for many of them, Mr. Patel's ascension to the director's role would confirm the worst of those fears."

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Investor Marc Andreessen set off a firestorm this past week when he said dozens of tech executives were quietly "debanked" during the Biden administration, highlighting an obscure but politically fraught practice.

• Why it matters: Having your access to the banking system revoked is a significant but not necessarily unusual penalty — one that nonetheless has aggravated a conservative base prone to suspicion of government overreach, Axios managing editor Ben Berkowitz writes.

⚡ Catch up quick: Andreessen appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast last week and said roughly 30 founders of crypto and other companies had been quietly "debanked" — an umbrella term usually denoting someone having their accounts closed, or ability to create new accounts blocked.

• Andreessen called it "Operation Choke Point 2.0," and claimed it was a campaign against "their political enemies and then to their disfavored tech startups."

The original Operation Choke Point was an Obama-era program targeting the bank accounts of those engaged in consumer fraud, though it became a lightning rod for conservative outrage.

• Andreessen claimed those debanked founders had no choice but to hold all their money in cash, or keep applying to different banks until they found one that would take their business.

Zoom out: Andreessen didn't provide evidence for his claim, and it's not clear what actually happened to whom, or when.

• Elon Musk amplified the claim on X.
• Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong in turn amplified Musk: "Can confirm this is true." Coinbase previously sued the FDIC for allegedly debanking crypto companies.

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These days, you never know who you will meet in the lobby of your West Palm Beach hotel.

• Yesterday, it was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, leaving Marriott's Delta Hotel the morning after his three-hour dinner with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined at Mar-a-Lago on Thanksgiving Eve.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) yesterday condemned a series of Thanksgiving bomb threats targeting congressional Democrats from New England.

• Why it matters: Congress was shaken by the incidents — the latest in a relentless cycle of violence and threats against American politicians, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.

A statement from the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said each threat was "signed with 'MAGA' at the conclusion of the message."

• Several Trump nominees — including Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), and former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) — were targeted by bomb threats this past week.

"This is dangerous and insane behavior," Johnson tweeted about the threats against Democrats.

• "Regardless of what party you belong to, your political opponents are not your enemies. This is not who we are in America."

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Companies are scaling down holiday catalogs to save on postage and paper. Some retailers are just sending postcards!

• Why it matters: The thick Sears and J.C. Penney catalogs that brought store displays to American living rooms slimmed down and gave way to targeted mailings once websites could do the same thing, AP reports.

Recent postal rate increases accelerated the shrink.

💼 Case in point: The number of catalogs mailed each year dropped about 40% between 2006 to 2018.

• But retailers are still betting on catalogs as a useful marketing tool, especially when they can slap on QR or promo codes to bring customers to their websites.

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AI is writing a huge chunk of what you're reading on LinkedIn.

• "Over 54 percent of longer English-language posts on LinkedIn are likely AI-generated," WIRED reports, citing an AI detection firm's analysis.

Daily conversation on Facebook Dating among 18- to 29-year-olds jumped 24% over the past year, Axios' Analis Bailey reports.

• Why it matters: Unlike other dating apps, Facebook Dating and all of its features are free.

Users are able to see their mutual friends with a match, while still hiding their dating profile from friends.

• Keep reading.