Trump's confidence and grasp of policy in his press conference this morning explains his wildly popular post-election honeymoon and that's the subject of the riff. Isn't it nice to have a president who can effortlessly stand up at a press conference and make statements and take questions for 70 minutes, sans teleprompter? Unafraid, confident and holding to his principles. That's what President Trump did this morning in Mar-a-Lago. It's a wonderful thing to see and it helps explain the cultural zeitgeist and post-election honeymoon he’s enjoying.
He led off by letting his business pal Masayoshi Son from Japan’s Softbank investment fund pledge $100 billion to invest in America First technology, which shows people are listening to Mr. Trump's pitch to bring new industry to America – and presumably be rewarded with a rock-bottom 15% corporate tax rate.
We already know that Mr. Trump is talking to world leaders around the globe, moving toward his priorities to end the Russia-Ukraine war, or vowing "hell to pay" if he doesn't get a Hamas hostage release. Or closing both our northern and southern borders to illegal immigrants.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew down to Mar-a-Lago for supper two weeks ago. That may very well have been his last supper because his top deputy just resigned in protest and he's sporting an approval rating in the low twenties, but let's wait and see how that one plays out.
At today's presser, though, President Trump repeated his tariff warning to Mexico and Canada and his trade bulldog Howard Lutnick was standing right there, just in case anyone doubted Trump's commitment. Trump blasted the Biden administration for not telling the truth about the drone craze sweeping the U.S., .but he told us the administration knows where they came from, and suggested it was not a hostile adversary.
Meanwhile, conservative columnist Ben Domenech believes the drones are following FAA regulations in a planned exercise sponsored by the Pentagon to test out new drone systems. Ben points to a press release this past June that nobody seems to have paid any attention to. Anyway, there's no reason for the Bidens to be hiding information about this drone story from the public.
Mr. Trump's going to be defending Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS Secretary and he's even considering a pardon for New York City Mayor Eric Adams – who has been treated unfairly by the Biden Justice Department because the New York mayor is saying he'll cooperate with Trump policies to deport criminals and President Trump added he'll have to look at all the facts.
He was very mellow in suggesting that people will get along with him much better in this second term than in the first, because they know he'll make good on his key policy promises, and they respect his electoral mandate for change.
However, he did suggest he may bring a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register – whose crazy poll on the eve of the election showed Harris up three points in Iowa, which Trump wound up winning by fourteen. He called that election interference -- and he's dead right.
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He criticized the Bidens for selling border wall parts for five cents on the dollar, knowing that he's going to need money and equipment to finish building the wall. He called it an almost criminal act. Perhaps the only thing missing was a final decision on whether to delay Trump tax cuts 2.0 until later next year, but that will get resolved soon enough.
He's not afraid to make decisions, Mr. Trump and he's not afraid to defend those decisions and he's not afraid to speak plainly and truthfully to the American public and that's why his transition is wildly popular, his approval ratings at record highs throughout this honeymoon, and he continues to control – what I call – the new American zeitgeist. That's the riff.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the Dec. 16, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."
