🚦 Axios PM: All systems go

Happy Friday! Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 466 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.

President-elect Trump's second term is already coming into focus much more clearly and quickly than his first one did.

• Trump is getting his people in place, and sending clear signals about how they'll operate.

☎️ 1. Elon Musk joined Trump's call this week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Axios' Barak Ravid scooped.

• Musk's Starlink systems have been a vital lifeline for Ukrainian troops, and he pledged to keep helping — but Trump has indicated that he's not likely to continue supporting Ukraine the way the Biden administration has.
• Why it matters: Musk's presence on the call is a sign of just how much access he may have in Trump's second term, advising a president who has never cared much about official protocols or formal lines of authority.

🌎 2. Trump has asked Robert Lighthizer to reprise his role as U.S. trade representative, the Financial Times reports.

• Lighthizer is staunchly pro-tariff, and his selection will likely set off alarms for U.S. trading partners — and potentially for the business interests and free-trade Republicans who supported Trump but had hoped he wouldn't actually pursue new import taxes.
• Lighthizer had lobbied for Treasury or Commerce secretary, per the FT, but Trump has other people in mind for those jobs.

Election Day might have gone better for Democrats if Vice President Harris had some competition for the nomination, Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi told The New York Times.

• "Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race," Pelosi said. "The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary."
• "Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don't know that. That didn't happen," she said. "If it had been much earlier, it would have been different."

🎧 The conversation airs tomorrow on the NYT podcast "The Interview."

Some Medicare patients will pay more for medicines. Others may not be able to get their medicines.

• 89% of insurers and PBMs say they plan to reduce access to medicines in Medicare Part D because of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Higher costs and less access. That's not what seniors were promised.

Learn more.

1. 🔨 The presidential Inauguration Day parade review stand, pictured above, is being assembled along Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House.
2. ⚖️ Special Counsel Jack Smith has begun the process of dropping his case against Trump. Go deeper.
3. 🏦 Fed chair Jerome Powell said he would not step down even if Trump asks him to. Go deeper.

Beyoncé leads the pack in this year's Grammy nominations, with 11 nods for "Cowboy Carter."

• 🏆 Her hit country album is up for Album of the Year — an award Beyoncé has never won, despite taking home more total Grammys (32) than any other artist in history.
• Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone and Charli XCX each received seven nominations, followed by Taylor Swift with six.

See the full list of nominees.

Higher costs and less access to medicines are not what seniors were promised when the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law.

The impact: Instead of saving money, some Medicare patients will pay more for medicines.

Learn more about the IRA's unintended consequences.