Is it possible that President Trump actually has no intention of winning re-election in 2020?

That's the question that was posed on Thursday by a surprising voice: Fox News' Tucker Carlson, who in a segment on his show wondered what it might look like if Trump had decided he didn't want to be president anymore and was taking steps to ensure he didn't win another term, per The Washington Post.

In this "hypothetical" scenario, Carlson ran through a number of things Trump could do so that his base would turn on him — all of which line up with actual Trump administration actions or reported proposals. He noted, for example, that if Trump wanted to lose, he could raise gas taxes, something the administration is reportedly considering and an idea that Carlson said is "so mindless and counterproductive there's literally no way you could get re-elected after doing it." Later, he told Trump he should definitely "go with the gas tax" if he secretly wants "to retire early" and is "really sick of the job."

Proposing cuts to Medicare and E-Verify would also be ways Trump could undermine his re-election chances, Carlson argued, as well as continuing "our pointless military intervention in Syria." These, again, are not hypothetical scenarios at all.

“If the president did all that, the message would be very clear: he has no idea what he ran on in 2016," Carlson said. "He just wants out.”

This was a surprisingly brutal segment from the Fox News host, although he has been critical of Trump before. Carlson in December went off on the president by saying he hasn't kept his promises to voters and suggested that due to his lack of legislative experience, he is not "capable" of doing so. Watch Carlson's segment below. Brendan Morrow

A large blast that shook downtown Nashville early Christmas morning wasn't an accident, Nashville police sayk. "The explosion was significant, as you can see," and "the police department, its federal partners — the FBI and ATF — are conducting a large-scale investigation to this point," said Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron. "We do believe that the explosion was an intentional act." Three people were injured in the explosion, but none critically, he added.

Police said they had responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle parked downtown at just before 6 a.m., but they had reason to call in the bomb squad, and the vehicle exploded as the unit was en route to the scene. About 20 buildings were damaged in the blast, Nashville Mayor John Cooper said. "It looks like a bomb went off," he said, and authorities will give an update Saturday morning. In the meantime, the downtown area will be "sealed off," Cooper said. "One more event in Nashville's 2020." Peter Weber

Hollywood's holiday traditions will look entirely different this year, as movie lovers swap big screens and popcorn buckets for streaming services and Christmas leftovers.

As studios take different approaches to the radically-changed holiday release season, two films debuting on Christmas Day via the internet will serve as an important test of what works — and what doesn't. Wonder Woman 1984 will be available both on HBO Max and in U.S. theaters that are still open, while Pixar's Soul will debut exclusively on Disney+. The decision to premiere Wonder Woman through streaming was met with criticism last month, with one critic calling it "the definition of short-term pain for long-term gain." Marianne Dodson

More than one million Americans have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, but the coronavirus fight remains dire as hospitalizations climb to their highest peak since the beginning of the pandemic.

By mid-week, more than 119,000 people were receiving in-patient treatment in the U.S., per The Washington Post. And while the start of immunizations has bolstered some spirits, the process has faced various challenges, with White House vaccine chief Moncef Slaoui saying Wednesday it likely won't be possible to hit the 20 million vaccination mark by the end of 2020. Dr. Anthony Fauci also revealed in an interview published Thursday that in order to achieve herd immunity, the vaccination rate may need to be as high as 90 percent. Currently, around 0.3 percent of the U.S. population has been vaccinated. Marianne Dodson

You know Dasher and Dancer and Roger and Kushner — but do you recall, the most consequential pardon of all?

President Trump has issued a flurry of late-term pardons in the lead-up to his departure from office, the most recent of which includes Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner, father of Jared Kushner. But two of the president's pardons this week have flown relatively under the radar, despite offering a potential glimpse into Trump's own future.

John Tate and Jesse Benton were two of 26 people granted clemency on Wednesday, receiving pardons for their 2016 convictions on campaign bribery charges. The two men, who were aides to former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, were found guilty of funneling $73,000 to a state senator in exchange for an endorsement of Paul during his 2012 presidential bid, The Des Moines Register reports. The payments were executed through a third-party vendor.

What Tate and Benton did, however, looks an awful lot like an LLC used by the Trump campaign to funnel non-FEC registered payments. The company was reportedly created in part by Jared Kushner, per Business Insider.

In the White House's official statement on the pardons, it said Tate and Benton were convicted based on an "unclear" and "not well established" campaign reporting law.

As the Center for Responsive Politics' Anna Massoglia points out, their conviction was one of few campaign finance cases "resulting in substantial consequences," and the pardoning of the two could send "a very specific message that it is okay to violate FEC ultimate vendor disclosure rules."

Britain and the European Union reached a historic post-Brexit trade deal Thursday, avoiding a "potentially disastrous no-deal scenario" and leaving lawmakers optimistic on trading conditions heading into the new year.

The deal, which comes nearly a year after Britain stopped being a full member of the EU and four years after Brexit was voted upon, began discussions last March, and negotiators have since endured "significant clashes over fishing, competition rules, and the governance of their new relationship." The decision comes in the 11th hour, with the final deadline set for Dec. 31.

Thanks to the agreement, exporters will likely face lower tariffs and costs, CNBC reports. The deal will now head to the British and European Parliaments in the coming weeks for ratification. Marianne Dodson

House Republicans blocked Democrats' attempt to approve $2,000 stimulus checks to Americans on Thursday, leaving the stimulus deal in limbo heading into the holidays.

Democrats tried to push the payments through by unanimous consent following President Trump's insistence earlier in the week that the previously-approved $600 payments were a "disgrace." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Thursday's failed negotiations an "act of callousness" by congressional Republicans, adding that Trump "must call on House Republicans to end their obstruction."

The initial package received congressional approval on Monday, but lawmakers were sent back to the drawing board after President Trump demanded bigger checks. Further deliberation on the already-delayed coronavirus relief package is now set for Dec. 28. Marianne Dodson