Listener supported, WNYC Studios.

It's the Brian Laira Show on WNYC. Good Friday morning, everyone.

You know, if real people's lives weren't being affected, this moment in the Trump transition

would be a pretty hilarious comedy of palace intrigue. To my eye, the main thing President

elect Trump has been doing since the election is trying to

demonstrate how much he can throw his weight around, right?

It's not about policy yet.

It's how much can I show that I'm the boss of you with other countries, with the media,

which the segment will mostly be about, with the stock market, and with other branches of

government.

And frankly, he's won some and he's

lost some. He does seem to have Ukraine cowering and ready to give up some of its country to Russia.

He's threatening Hamas that there will be, quote, all hell to pay, unquote, if they don't free

the remaining October 7th hostages by his inauguration on January 20th.

We'll see if that threat makes a difference to anything in the region.

His invitation to Xi Jinping, did you hear about this, to attend his inauguration,

seems on one level at least, like a warning to democracy advocates everywhere, like

we strongman types might link arms and sing each other's praises if it helps both of us increase

our power over you. Dissidents and human rights advocates, you are on notice. Trump actually

called she an amazing guy the other day.

But the power play scorecard reveals that Xi Jinping hasn't accepted the invitation so far,

kind of changing the narrative of who's in charge as Trump is relegated to just waiting for an answer from him.

...