Chris Christie, unplugged  —  Good morning, Early Birds.  We hope your allergies aren't as bad as ours, but sorry to be the bearer of bad news: The tree and grass pollen count in D.C. today is “high.”  Tips: earlytips@washpost.com.  Was this forwarded to you?  Sign up here.  Thanks for waking up with us.

Senate passes TikTok ban bill, sending it to President Biden's desk … A bill that would force China-based company ByteDance to sell TikTok — or else face a US ban of the platform — is all but certain to become law after the Senate passed a foreign aid package including the measure.

How McConnell and Schumer beat hardline conservatives on Ukraine  —  The two Senate leaders and the White House worked tirelessly for the better part of a year to get direly needed aid for Ukraine.  It finally paid off.  —  Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden might have been in lockstep …

FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes  —  FTC's final rule will generate over 8,500 new businesses each year, raise worker wages, lower health care costs, and boost innovation  —  Today, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule to promote competition by banning noncompetes nationwide …

The press helps MAGA target jurors.  And it's just not Fox.  —  Trump has always benefited from unthinking, celebrity-obsessed media. … Fox News personality Jesse Watters spent the early days of former president Donald Trump's New York trial attacking and trying to discredit the jury.

Trump's New Legal Bills Are Hiding an $8 Million Mystery  —  CONCEALED CARRY  —  Trump is using a GOP compliance firm as a go-between to pay lawyers, allowing him to hide who he's actually paying.  Experts have real questions whether he can do that.

Biden administration makes it easier for flyers to get refunds  —  The rule comes after more than a year of promises by the administration to shore up protections for air passengers.  —  Passengers whose flights are canceled or “significantly” delayed won't have to fight to get a cash refund …

Biden's Gains Against Trump Vanish on Deep Economic Pessimism, Poll Shows  —  The president is trailing Donald Trump in six of seven swing states as a majority of poll respondents see the economy worsening by the end of the year.  —  President Joe Biden's recent polling bump in key battleground states …

FBI director rejects Trump's vow to investigate political rivals  —  In a wide-ranging interview with NBC News, Christopher Wray also broke with Trump over the former president's characterization of Jan. 6 defendants as “hostages.”  —  Reacting for the first time to former President Donald Trump's vow …

How “The Nelson Mandela of America” Is Making Bank Off of His Criminal Trial  —  IN THE FIRST WEEK OF HIS CRIMINAL TRIAL, Donald Trump raised about $5.6 million online by warning his small dollar-donors that the “Deep State” was out to lock him up.  —  “I JUST STORMED INTO COURT,” …

George W. Bush was a terrible president  —  Looking back at the last — disastrous — era of efficacious conservative policymaking  —  If you're in the DC area, I'm hosting a book talk for Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld about their new book “The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics.”

GOP senator: Greene ‘dragging our brand down’  —  Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) took a shot at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) Tuesday, saying she is “dragging our brand down.”  —  “She is a horrible leader,” Tillis said of Greene, according to audio played on CNN's “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

Biden scores major union backing as its leaders attack Trump  —  Joe Biden will land a major union endorsement Wednesday from North America's Building Trades Unions, whose leaders say the president has his infrastructure bill largely to thank for it.  —  In making one of their earliest ever …

Updates on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)  —  Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is a disease that is highly contagious and often deadly in poultry, caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5) and A (H7) viruses; it is also known as bird or avian flu.

National Enquirer made up the story about Ted Cruz's father and Lee Harvey Oswald, former publisher says  —  The Texas senator told NBC News that he's “not interested in revisiting ancient history.”  —  David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified at Donald Trump's trial Tuesday …

Why narrow majorities and House gridlock are here to stay in 2024  —  The number of truly competitive seats is smaller than it's been in decades.  —  The battle for the House will be determined by a smaller number of races than it has in at least the past two decades.

Exclusive: Trump brothers Eric and Don Jr. emerge as loyalty czars … - Don Jr.'s goal “is to keep the John Boltons of the world outside a second Trump administration,” a person close to him told Axios, referring to Donald Trump's hawkish former national security adviser who wrote a bestselling book lambasting the former president.

Trump keeps begging for a “rally behind MAGA” — but his supporters aren't showing up to court  —  It's not just that Fox News told them entering New York results in instant murder  —  Donald Trump can't decide how he wants his supporters to feel about the scene outside of the Manhattan courtroom …

I'm a Columbia Professor.  The Protests on My Campus Are Not Justice.  —  Last Thursday, in the music humanities class I teach at Columbia University, two students were giving an in-class presentation on the composer John Cage.  His most famous piece is “4'33”," which directs us to listen …