Here’s what you need to know.
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up .)
The president said on Sunday that he would remove Defense Secretary Jim Mattis by Jan. 1, two months earlier than planned, after a parade of defense analysts went on TV over the weekend to praise Mr. Mattis and his resignation letter, which criticized Mr. Trump’s foreign policy.
Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who was Mr. Mattis’s deputy, will serve as acting defense secretary.
Mr. Trump also suggested that the U. S. military’s withdrawal from Syria, which he announced last week over Mr. Mattis’s objection, would not come as soon as promised.
Notable: Brett McGurk, the U. S. special envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, sped up his own departure, telling colleagues that he could not in good conscience carry out Mr. Trump’s new Syria policy.
From Opinion: Susan Rice, a former national security adviser, writes that the decision-making process that led to Mr. Mattis’s resignation does more to undermine American national security than any foreign adversary does.
Last week was the worst for markets in a decade, and President Trump has become increasingly convinced that one man is to blame: Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
After the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the fifth consecutive quarter, Mr. Trump told aides that Mr. Powell would “turn me into Hoover,” referring to the president in the early years of the Great Depression. Mr. Trump’s advisers sought over the weekend to offer reassurances that the president wasn’t planning to fire Mr. Powell.
The reaction: Markets in Asia and Europe were quiet today, although several were closed for the holidays. Futures markets suggested Wall Street would open higher.
Go deeper: At the midpoint of his term, the president has become more sure of his own judgment and more isolated from anyone else’s . “I’m doing great, but it’s a war every day,” he has told aides.
The partial government shutdown will continue until at least Thursday — and most likely into the new year — as negotiations have essentially stopped over President Trump’s demand for $5 billion for a border wall.
Democrats see little reason to compromise given that they take control of the House on Jan. 3. At that point, Representative Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to be the new speaker, could use her majority to approve a measure to fund the government for a year without additional money for a wall.
While about 800,000 federal employees are affected by the shutdown, about three-quarters of the government has been funded, considerably reducing the impact.
