Where Trump voters disagree with the president and the status of Ukraine peace talks: Morning Rundown

In today’s newsletter: Trump’s voters are increasingly disagreeing with him on the economy and immigration. The U.S. president will meet Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and Iran. And NFL division rivals battle for playoff spots.

Here’s what to know today.

The voters who put President Donald Trump back in the White House last year still largely support him. But they are increasingly disagreeing with the president on issues like the economy and immigration, raising questions about the strength of his coalition heading into a midterm election year.

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That’s the upshot of a year of focus group conversations diving into different key groups of Trump’s 2024 base of support, which were observed by NBC News.

The groups included more than 50 Black, Hispanic and young voters who voted for Trump, as well as Republican voters who decided to back Democrats in this year’s New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections.

These were some consistent themes:

→ All about the economy: Some voters expressed disappointment that the president hasn’t made tackling inflation a higher priority and wanted to see more tangible progress in his pledge to lower prices.

→ Tariffs divide voters: Some voters were hopeful that a short stretch of instability would pay off. Others were concerned about uncertainty or hurting businesses and consumers.

→ Immigration vs. deportation: Most Trump voters were supportive of his measures to clamp down on illegal border crossings. But they also believed Trump wasn’t properly prioritizing the removal of violent criminals over the removal of undocumented immigrants.

Here’s what else we learned.

• Democrats still face an uphill battle to take control of the Senate but see a path amid Trump’s poor ratings on the economy and concerns about health care. These are the 10 races that will determine the balance of power.

• As Zohran Mamdani prepares to be inaugurated as mayor, Muslim New Yorkers say his victory represents more than a historic first.

Trump will meet with Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on Monday hoping to push forward the ceasefire that he brokered in Gaza while the Israeli Prime Minister is expected to press for new measures against Iran.

The meeting, which an official told NBC News will be at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, will be Netanyahu’s sixth with the U.S. leader this year and comes a day after the Republican hosted Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of the U.S. bid to negotiate a peace deal with Russia.

While Trump has been working for an end to the war in Europe, progress has stalled in the Middle East.

The Israel-Hamas truce went into effect in October, but hundreds of people have been killed in the Palestinian enclave since that agreement, local officials say, while Israel has accused Hamas of ceasefire violations.

Read the full story.

The final two spots in the NFL playoffs will be decided by a pair of winner-take-all games between division rivals in the final week of the regular season.

The winner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens’ Week 18 matchup will earn the AFC North division title and the AFC’s last postseason berth as the conference’s No. 4 seed.

The game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers will carry identical stakes, with the winner claiming the NFC South division crown and the last spot in the wild-card round as the NFC’s fourth seed.

Since 2020, the Buccaneers have won nine of their last 11 games against the Panthers. Tampa has also won the division each of the last four years — but it’s still anyone’s game.

• The D.C. pipe bomb suspect disliked both political parties and felt violence would be justified, prosecutors said in a request to keep him behind bars while he awaits trial.

• Brigitte Bardot, an icon of French cinema and animal rights activist, died at 91, her foundation said.

• At least one person is dead and another is critically injured after two helicopters crashed in Hammonton, New Jersey.

• Fake heiress to fugitive: Former employees detail an alleged scam blamed on a TV producer.

• From a gay rodeo to “No Kings” protests, these were some of our best photographs and illustrations from 2025.

Nearly a year ago, I watched my high school burn in the Palisades Fire. The inferno turned thousands of structures to ash — my friends’ homes, the shops we’d frequent after the bell rang and the library where I volunteered.

It also destroyed assisted living facilities and retirement communities where older adults planned to spend their final years. Hundreds of patients and residents were separated from essential services. Now, they’re determined to return.

Reporter Alicia Lozano captured their feelings of hurt and renewed hope ahead of the tragedy’s one-year mark. Rebuilding has been slow across the burn scar — I’ve seen the damage up close myself. But as one senior resident said, “I believe it’s going to be good again.”

— Kayla Hayempour, platforms editor

We tested and reviewed them: These are the best dumbbells for your at-home workout routine. Plus, 11 best space heaters for every part of your home as temperatures dip.

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