Why it matters: It’s rare, if not unprecedented, for a newly elected leader to have so many world leaders and CEOs shift their policies or posture so blatantly during the transition to curry favor with a new president.
Trump will start his presidency with a very loyal GOP Senate and House, a vastly empowered MAGA-friendly media and information ecosystem, businesses scrambling to make amends or further improve cozy relationships, and money flowing fast into his family’s business endeavors.
-
His Democratic opposition is weak and largely powerless — although Republicans’ tiny margin in the House will be a constant threat.
-
In two short months…
-
Major tech CEOs traveled to meet Trump in person and cut $1 million checks to his inauguration.
-
Meta shifted top personnel and its social media policing policies to match Trump’s interests.
-
With the news media more fractured and less trusted than ever, outlets that once covered Trump with skepticism — and even disdain — have made surprise overtures to the president-elect.
-
Democrats’ post-2016 “resistance” movement is in complete disarray: Some lawmakers instead want to work with the Trump administration on bipartisan goals, with border security and his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) emerging as two early examples.
-
Trump-aligned nationalist movements are disrupting long-liberal foreign allies — from Canada to Britain to Germany — in part because of aggressive information wars waged by Elon Musk and his supporters.
-
Two billionaire CEOs announced big U.S. investments to kick off Trump press conferences at Mar-a-Lago: Before Christmas, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son announced plans by the Japanese company to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. This week, the UAE’s Hussain Sajwani, a close business partner of the Trump family, made a $20 billion commitment to build data centers in the U.S.
-
Trump moved the Overton window on American expansion by publicly musing about seizing or acquiring Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal — a reminder to the world and media that Trump is willing to say or do anything. Trump even said he’d move to rebrand “the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring … what a beautiful name.”
-
Trump is by far the most popular politician in Israel, giving him enormous leverage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition is weak and polls are bad. Trump said at his press conference this week that if the hostages in Gaza aren’t “back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.” With Trump’s prodding, Bibi sent his negotiators back to Doha, Qatar, three weeks ago to resume indirect talks with Hamas in an effort to reach a deal by Jan. 20.
-
The Trump effect in the Middle East extends beyond Israel. Iran is trying to keep a low profile in the region, shelved a retaliation plan against Israel, signaled several times it wants to negotiate a new nuclear deal and is uncharacteristically staying out of today’s presidential election in Lebanon.
-
Trump has raised a record $170 million for his inauguration — with so much still coming in that VIP events are over-capacity and “some donors have taken the unusual step of offering donations as high as $1 million without receiving anything in return,” the N.Y. Times reports (gift link).
Read the full story from Axios here.
Source: Trump – Vance Transition
Press.donaldjtrump.com
