Melania Trump may be off to Mar-a-Lago without him but Donald Trump is hanging with someone probably nearer and dearer: No, not Vladimir Putin… Fox News host Pete Hegseth.

Fox News’ announcement states that during their New Year’s Eve special, “Hegseth will speak with Trump to discuss the government shutdown, his New Year’s resolutions and what he hopes to accomplish in 2019.”

Hegseth will be cohosting with the charismatically-challenged Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery. You may recall that last year, Kennedy and then cohost Jesse Watters took snarky jabs at Hillary Clinton. I think we can count on nastiness involving Nancy Pelosi this year.

Nevertheless, Kennedy will surely seem utterly charming next to sourpuss (and Obamacare hypocrite) Tomi Lahren who is also scheduled to be a part of the festivities.

Meanwhile, as Trump stays in Washington and pretends to be working during the #TrumpShutdown, Melania Trump hasn’t let a little thing like hundreds of thousands of government workers going without pay stop her from ringing in 2019 at hubby’s luxury resort, Mar-a-Lago. There, she will soak the taxpayers for the shindig while also raking in dough for the family.

But, hey, given their not-so-loving marriage, maybe the two are better off spending the big night apart. And let’s face it, the adulterous, self-dealing, hypocritical Hegseth is probably every bit the soulmate Trump could ever want on this night.

Let’s just hope Hegseth and Kennedy aren’t so busy slobbering over Trump that they miss the countdown, as happened with different cohosts two New Year’s Eves ago.

Meanwhile, watch Trump give a taste from earlier today of how he’ll “celebrate” tonight – with partisan rancor swiping at Sen. Elizabeth Warren.