Good morning! Shocking no one, former President Trump won the Iowa Republican caucus on Monday. More on that below.

Congress has a budget deadline this week (what’s new?). If they don’t agree on funding amounts by Friday, part of the federal government will shut down. We’ll cover that in more detail on Friday.

In more important news, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend-in-law Jason Kelce is retiring from the NFL after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.

 2024 

🗳️ Trump wins coldest Iowa caucuses ever

Monday night’s Iowa Republican caucuses were the coldest on record. With windchills hitting -35°, it’s no surprise only 15% of Iowa Republicans took part (though that’s still more than 110,000 people).

Results: As everyone expected, former President Donald Trump cruised to an easy win. Here are the full results:

• Donald Trump: 51%

• Ron DeSantis: 21%

• Nikki Haley: 19%

• Vivek Ramaswamy: 8%

• Asa Hutchinson: 0.2% (ouch)

In a turn from the past few elections, the polls just about nailed this one. The only significant difference was DeSantis outpacing his polling average by about 5%.

In his speech, DeSantis knocked the media for calling the race before almost any votes were cast. On her side, Haley went all out and said Iowa made it “a two-person race.”

And then there were three: As political pros nerds like to say, there are “three tickets out of Iowa.” That rang true again Monday when fourth and fifth-place finishers Ramaswamy and Hutchinson dropped out. In his concession speech, Ramaswamy threw his support behind Trump.

Next: It’s on to New Hampshire now. The Granite State votes in the first primary (…technically since Iowa had a caucus) next Tuesday, Jan. 23. There was a scheduled debate for tomorrow, but ABC canceled it after Haley refused to take part unless Trump (or Biden) did too.

Hours after winning Iowa, Trump spent his day in a New York courtroom working out how much he’ll owe E. Jean Carroll (he was found guilty of defamation).

 BUSINESS 

✈️ Government says JetBlue can’t buy Spirit

Yikes. Spirit Airlines’ stock tanked by ~50% yesterday after a federal judge blocked rival JetBlue from purchasing the company. Back in 2022, JetBlue announced it would buy Spirit for $3.8 billion. But the federal government — in the form of the Department of Justice (DOJ) — sued to block the deal on antitrust grounds. They just won that case.

• Federal antitrust law (from 1914) lets the government sue to stop big company mergers it thinks would harm competition.

• The DOJ said a JetBlue/Spirit merger would raise costs for consumers due to fewer available options.

JetBlue and Spirit disagreed with the government here (obviously). But the judge did not. So the merger is 100% off. Your choice of flying sardine cans remains varied.

 POLITICS 

🔵 Billionaire investor Bill Ackman (the Harvard guy) gave $1 million to a SuperPAC supporting Rep. Dean Phillips’ longshot Democratic primary bid against Biden. Federal law bans giving more than a few thousand directly to campaigns, but donors can give unlimited amounts to outside groups (SuperPACs) that are forbidden from talking to the campaign.

🔴 There’s some hot drama in Louisiana right now. The state is being forced to redraw its Congressional districts because a federal court said the current district map is racially discriminatory. The state has to draw a second seat with a Black majority (or something close to it). That likely means a current Republican representative is going to lose their seat. Who’s losing this game of musical chairs? Rep. Garret Graves, who happened to support the governor’s primary opponent last year. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s seat is safe (he’s from Louisiana).

🔵 Many allies of Barack Obama think the Biden/Harris campaign isn’t as active as it should be and leans too heavily on the Democratic Party itself. Not among them? Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, thinks his campaign burned through cash too quickly. Messina thinks Biden relying more on outside groups at this stage is a smart cash-saver.

🔴 A few Republican presidential endorsements:

• Utah Sen. Mike Lee for Donald Trump.

• Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan for Nikki Haley. This one’s notable because Hogan also dropped his involvement with No Labels (a group trying to get a third-party campaign together).

• Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul for anyone but Haley.

🔵 A supporter of Rep. Dean Phillips lost a federal lawsuit trying to get Phillips’ name on the Democratic primary ballot in Florida. The Florida Democratic Party submitted only one name to the state for their ballot: President Biden’s. That effectively cancels their primary and gives Phillips one less shot at winning. The attorney in question here vows to appeal the decision.

 BRIEFS 

• Uniqlo is suing Shein, alleging they knocked off Uniqlo’s viral Mary Poppins bag

• 911 call for Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin requested the ambulance use no lights or sirens

• The two missing US Navy SEALs were helping seize Iranian warheads headed to the Houthis

• The UK just gave the right to vote to over a million Brits living in other countries

• Fujitsu has a “moral obligation” to compensate hundreds of UK victims after broken software (for decades) falsely accused them of theft (many went to prison)

• Former VP Al Gore is retiring from Apple’s board after 20 years — company policy says he’s too old for another term (he’s 75)

• House Republicans paused their efforts to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress as he debates cooperating with their impeachment investigation of his father

 TRIVIA 

If Donald Trump wins this year’s presidential election, he will become only the second US president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Who was the first?

 WORLD 

🇺🇸 United States: The US military carried out its third round of airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen yesterday. They targeted radar and anti-ship missiles as part of the effort to keep Red Sea shipping lanes free from Houthi attacks.

🇨🇭 World Economic Forum: China sent a huge delegation to the WEF in Switzerland this week as it attempts to claw back decreasing foreign investment in its economy. Not in the group? President Xi Jinping.

🇮🇱 Israel / 🇵🇸 Gaza: Israel and Hamas came to an agreement involving humanitarian aid. Israel will let more medical supplies for civilians into Gaza. In exchange, Hamas will give medical attention to its hostages (estimated to be 123). Qatar and France brokered the deal.

 QUOTE 

 SNACKS 

👽 Aliens: Lexington, Kentucky is running tourism ads in space in the hope that E.T. will swing by for some bourbon or something.

🏆 TV: “Succession” and “The Bear” (apparently that’s a comedy?) won big at the Emmys this week. Elton John grabbed a win for his concert special and became the 19th person to complete an EGOT.

🛩️ Look: A photo journey through the history of US fighter jets.

 ANSWER 

That would be President Grover Cleveland. He served from 1885-1889, lost reelection, won again the next time around (against the same guy), and served his second term from 1893-1897. He was the only Democrat elected from 1860-1912.

Weirdly, he’s also numbered as president #22 and president #24. This is why Biden is #46 despite being only the 45th person to have the job.