Trump is already acting like he's president: From the Politics Desk

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, senior White House reporter Peter Nicholas examines how Donald Trump is overshadowing the final weeks of Joe Biden's presidency. Plus, we dive into what Kamala Harris and Trump campaigns spent their cash on in the closing days of the 2024 race.

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Trump isn’t president yet, but that hasn’t stopped him from starting to act like he is

By Peter Nicholas

Foreign leaders have lined up to speak with him. He has rattled Mexico and Canada with threats of steep tariffs and warned there would be “hell to pay” for militants in Gaza unless they release the hostages by the time he’s sworn in.

That won’t happen for another 45 days, but Donald Trump, the president-in-waiting, isn’t shying away from acting like the president-in-reality.

Trump can’t sign a bill or issue an executive order yet, but he is crowding out Joe Biden as the sitting president winds down his term and steadily recedes from public view. In two foreign trips since the election, Biden has answered all of two questions from reporters.

He has been left to kibitz about Trump’s pronouncements — “I hope he rethinks it,” he said of Trump’s plan to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico — rather than drive an agenda of his own.

As for Trump, “his view is that he’s not going to follow rules that he thinks are stupid rules,” said a former senior White House official in Trump’s first term. “His view is these are hostages and if he can help bring them home, then why would he follow protocol if it’s going to impact peoples’ lives?”

At this point, Trump is “already basically running things, and he’s not even president yet,” the person added. 

Trump’s penchant for plunging into current affairs is testing the one-at-a-time dictum that presidents are supposed to honor but, for reasons of political expediency or practical necessity, usually don’t. 

This weekend, Trump will join French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral five years after it was devastated by fire. Biden was invited but opted not to attend, a White House official said.

Trump’s return to the world stage after a four-year hiatus, coupled with news about his hires, has overshadowed Biden’s trip to sub-Saharan Africa this week, in which he faced fallout from the sweeping pardon he gave his son Hunter.

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How Harris’ campaign spent $277 million in the final weeks

By Bridget Bowman, Ben Kamisar and Joe Murphy

Despite coming up short in the vote count, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign raised and spent roughly twice as much as President-elect Trump in the final days of the 2024 election and the weeks that followed, new campaign finance reports show. 

The Harris campaign raised $160 million and spent $277 million from Oct. 25 through Nov. 25, the period covered by the latest reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, while the Trump campaign pulled in $87 million and spent $113 million over that time.

The largest shares of both campaigns’ spending went to media buys and ad production, with the Harris campaign spending $129 million to Trump’s $95.1 million, according to an analysis of expenditures in the new filings.

The Harris campaign spent much more than Trump’s on directly contacting voters, reporting a combined $25.4 million on text message outreach, canvassing, phone calls and direct mail. Trump’s campaign spent $3 million on “SMS advertising” and just $1,500 on direct mail printing and posting, underscoring how the campaign outsourced much of its field operation to other groups.

Harris’ campaign also spent a much larger share of its funds on events, racking up at least $45.5 million in payments (17% of its total operating expenses in this report) to pay for event production, audio and visual services, equipment rental, supplies and event security.

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, reported spending $632,000, or less than 1% of its operating expenditures, on events. 

The Harris campaign paid $165,000 to a production company affiliated with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, who spoke at a late October rally in Houston. Companies affiliated with musicians Katy Perry, Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera (all three of whom appeared at Harris events in the closing weeks of the campaign) received six-figure payments as well. And others affiliated with musicians like Bruce Springsteen, John Legend and Jason Isbell received smaller checks, too.

The celebrities themselves were not paid, a campaign official previously told NBC News, but the campaign had to pay for costs associated with production and their travel. Campaign finance laws dictate that campaigns have to pay market value for anything they receive, including entertainment at events.

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💲More number crunching: The new campaign finance reports also revealed that billionaire Elon Musk poured more than $20 million into a mysterious super PAC at the end of the campaign, part of more than $250 million he spent overall to boost Trump. Read more →

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]

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