Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, White House correspondent Mike Memoli files a dispatch from Rio de Janeiro on President Joe Biden’s final international summit. Plus, national political correspondent Steve Kornacki breaks down the final election results from our seven key “Deciders” counties.
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Biden fades into the background at his final international summits
By Mike Memoli
RIO DE JANEIRO — President Joe Biden’s final international summits almost certainly would have played out differently had the elections back home gone as he had hoped. But President-elect Donald Trump cast a long shadow over a seemingly humbled Biden as he bid farewell to his counterparts here.
Though administration officials have regularly invoked Biden’s urging to “run through the tape” in his final months in office, the president’s public engagements at both the G20 summit in Brazil and the APEC meeting in Peru were limited. He spoke briefly during each gathering’s working sessions and before face-to-face meetings with leaders from China, Japan, South Korea and Peru.
If Biden wanted to use this trip to send any messages to his predecessor-turned-successor about the importance of engaging with allies, or make any effort to try to cement his own legacy, it came in a challenge to Trump not to reverse legislation that sought to accelerate a shift to renewable energy sources.
The only stop Biden made independent of the two major gatherings was what the White House touted as a history-making visit to the Amazon, where Biden took part in an aerial tour of the landscape and then delivered a seven-minute statement to reporters about the importance of his climate agenda.
“Some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s underway in America, but nobody — nobody can reverse it — nobody,” he said.
In remarks to Chinese President Xi Jinping before the final meeting, Biden also warned that they “cannot let any of this competition veer into conflict.”
White House officials insisted that Trump had not come up during his meetings with fellow world leaders. In an indication of the fine line other leaders were walking during this period of transition, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delicately sidestepped a question about his concerns about working again with Trump.
“Little secret — there is no American administration that is automatically easy for a Canadian government,” Trudeau said during a question-and-answer session in Lima.
Biden’s posture stood in contrast with how he presented himself at the G20 summit three years ago in Rome. Biden boasted about how his counterparts were keen for his input on a range of issues and how his leadership dictated the agenda, including plans for a sweeping new global minimum tax.
“Everyone sought me out. They wanted to know what our views were. And we helped lead what happened here,” Biden said at his closing news conference in 2021.
On this trip, Biden avoided most questions posed to him by traveling reporters, and did not hold a closing news conference.
7 counties that told the story of the 2024 election
By Steve Kornacki
In the run-up to the 2024 election, NBC News identified seven counties to help uncover some of the political trends that would define the presidential contest.
With the election in the rearview mirror, we wanted to look at those seven “Deciders” counties and what insights could be gleaned from them. All seven wound up mirroring national trends, swinging toward Donald Trump by varying degrees with three flipping from the Democratic to the Republican column.
Maricopa County, Arizona: More than two-thirds of Arizona’s voting population comes out of Maricopa County, so it’s tough to win the state overall without winning here. Joe Biden was the first Democrat in 72 years to carry Maricopa in 2020. But Trump was able to come roaring back this year, making gains in the city of Phoenix proper. The largely Latino neighborhood of Maryvale also swung in Trump’s favor.
Miami-Dade County, Florida: In 2016, Hillary Clinton won this nearly 70% Latino county by almost 30 points. In 2020, Biden carried it by just 7 points. And in 2024, Trump flipped it with a double-digit win. Trump was able to make gains across the board, from Cuban-majority Hialeah to Venezuelan-heavy Doral to Aventura, an older community with one of the densest Jewish populations.
Gwinnett County, Georgia: The Atlanta suburbs have been trending Democratic recently. In 2016, Clinton won here by 6 points. Four years later, Biden tripled that margin to 18 points. This year it came down a point. What stopped the bleeding for Trump? Support from Hispanic voters. Gwinnett has the largest Hispanic population anywhere in the Atlanta metro area. When you look at the heavily Hispanic precincts around Norcross, Trump posted some real improvements.
Kent County, Michigan: In the heart of western Michigan, this is a traditionally Republican area where the voters haven’t taken particularly well to Trump as the party leader. One of the big questions coming into this election was whether Trump would continue to underperform here like he did in recent elections. The answer was that it didn’t get much better for him here, but it also didn’t get much worse. Trump performed a point better in the county than he did in 2020 and ultimately flipped the state.
Washoe County, Nevada: While making a fairly significant improvement in vote margin compared to 2020, Trump actually lost Washoe County and the state’s other big population center, Clark County, on the way to carrying the state overall. Trump was able to keep his losses just small enough in the big counties to come out ahead after his significant wins in the more rural counties.
Erie County, Pennsylvania: It’s been the ultimate bellwether: Barack Obama carried this county in 2008 and 2012. Trump was able to win it in 2016, only for it to flip to Biden in 2020. In 2024, Erie is back in Trump’s column. NBC News’ Dasha Burns picked up the economic discontent that ultimately led to Trump’s win in Erie in March.
Dane County, Wisconsin: Dane is a population-dense and growing county where a majority of the adult population has a college degree. Democrats have steadily netted more votes out of here in presidential contests in recent years. Kamala Harris managed yet again to squeeze more out of Dane, winning it by 188,000, but it was not nearly enough to offset the losses she received elsewhere in the state.
ICYMI: Read more from Steve on the voter shifts that led to Trump’s battleground state sweep →
➡️ Trump transition watch
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A handful of megadonors helped to power Trump’s campaign to victory earlier this month. Now, some of them are under consideration for major positions as he shapes his next administration.
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One of those donors, Howard Lutnick, a billionaire financial services executive and key transition adviser, is Trump’s pick to lead the Commerce Department.
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Trump said he will nominate Mehmet Oz, a former Pennsylvania Senate candidate and TV doctor, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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Trump also selected former Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., now a Fox News host, to serve as his transportation secretary.
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Trump has been “heavily working the phones” to bolster his pick to lead the Justice Department, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who is already facing skepticism from some Republican senators.
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Gaetz allegedly paid a woman for sex at a small, invitation-only party in Florida in 2017, the woman’s attorney told NBC News. And a hacker has gained access to a file containing depositions from two women who were involved in an investigation into Gaetz.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice for health and human services secretary, is facing criticism from his own family, Caroline Kennedy saying her cousin’s views on vaccines are “dangerous.”
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Trump has started receiving intelligence briefings after having declined them during his campaign.
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Vivek Ramaswamy is looking to force federal workers to return to the office full time, and he could have an unlikely ally in D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
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⚖️ Trump on trial: New York prosecutors told the judge who presided over Trump’s hush money trial that his sentencing should be postponed while the president-elect’s lawyers file further legal arguments asking the case be dismissed. Read more →
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📃 Bathroom bill: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said her resolution prohibiting transgender women from using female bathrooms is “absolutely” aimed at Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., who will be the first openly transgender member of Congress. Read more →
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🗳️ Lessons learned: The four Senate Democratic candidates who won their races even as Trump carried their states say their party can learn some lessons from their campaigns. Read more →
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🥊 Democrats’ next fight: Minnesota Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin became the second candidate to jump into the race to lead the Democratic National Committee. Read more →
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📉 2024 postmortem: A new analysis of precinct-level data by the NBC News Decision Desk shows the extent to which Trump’s wins in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — and Harris’ losses — were driven by weak turnout in heavily Democratic cities. Read more →
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☑️ Not done yet: Harris has one last chance to defy Trump as she could provide tie-breaking votes for Biden’s judicial appointments before leaving office. Read more →
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🏃🏼 Next moves: Nebraska Independent Dan Osborn is returning to work as a steamfitter, but he’s also launching a new PAC and weighing another run for the Senate in 2026. Read more →
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🚫 Abortion ruling: A Wyoming judge ruled that two laws restricting and banning abortion in the state violate its constitution, making the procedure legal up until fetal viability for the time being. Read more →
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🪑 In the hot seat: Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell faced questions from House lawmakers about the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Read more →
That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
