Trump buoyant as big business and former foes fall in line
Trump recently appeared at the New York Stock Exchange to mark his announcement as Time Magazine's "person of the year"
- Published
On Monday morning, at a public event announcing a new $100bn US investment pledge by a Japanese conglomerate, Donald Trump appeared to revel in the breadth of his support.
"The first term everybody was fighting me," he said. "This term everybody wants to be my friend."
It may have been a typically Trumpian overstatement, but the contrast between the way his first presidential term began – and ended – and the current transition to his second term eight years later is dramatic.
In just the past few weeks, many of the president-elect's former critics and adversaries have made overtures.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Sam Altman of OpenAI have pledged million-dollar donations to Trump's inauguration festivities.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew met Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate on Monday.
During his first term, Trump sought to ban the Chinese-owned social media company, which conservatives at the time blasted as a national security risk.
The president-elect now opposes a current effort to ban the platform, this time from the Biden administration, partially because it could help Facebook, which he has accused of aiding his 2020 election loss. The ban is scheduled to go into effect before Trump is sworn into office.
Others have also made the trek to Florida or plan to.
The day before Thanksgiving, Zuckerberg, whose Facebook had once banned Trump, travelled to the president-elect's private club in Florida for dinner.
Google head Sundar Pichai also said he plans a sit-down meeting with the president-elect.
And when Trump appeared on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell and mark his announcement as Time Magazine's "person of the year" last week, senior executives from major US corporations gathered to watch.
"This marks a time of great promise for our nation," Marc Benioff, head of Salesforce and owner of Time, posted on X. "We look forward to working together to advance American success and prosperity for everyone."
The increasingly accommodating attitude isn't confined solely to the corporate boardrooms. In the media, too, there has been something of a shift.
MSNBC personalities Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who host Morning Joe, visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump last month. "It's time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but talking with him," Brzezinski said.
And on Saturday, ABC News – which is owned by the Disney Corporation – announced that it was paying Trump $15m and legal fees to settle a defamation lawsuit related to remarks made in March by morning news presenter George Stephanopoulos.
Defamation cases against media outlets require proving malice or a reckless disregard for the truth – and other news organisations have successfully fought off previous Trump lawsuits. With Trump soon returning to power, however – and the president-elect threatening new lawsuits on Monday against CBS, the Des Moines Register and the Pulitzer Prize foundation - the calculus for ABC and Disney may have changed.
A protracted legal battle with the president-elect was seemingly deemed unpalatable.
Mark Zuckerberg, whose Facebook had once banned Trump, travelled to the president-elect's private club in Florida for dinner
In Washington's corridors of power, a similar dynamic appears to be at play.
Senate Republicans who had seemed wary of confirming some of Trump's more controversial political appointees, such as Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of defence, are falling in line as they face increasing pressure not just from Trump but from his supporters, who warn of dire consequences for the uncooperative.
Even some Democrats are reaching out to the incoming Trump administration. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman said he would consider backing Hegseth and has expressed support for some Trump picks.
Other Trump critics in Congress are taking a pragmatic approach. On Sunday, independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders suggested he would be open to supporting vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as Trump's health secretary, saying he shared concerns about the health impacts of processed food.
Eight years ago, it was a different story. Democrats were pledging across-the-board resistance to the newly elected president. The day after his inauguration, millions took to the streets in protest.
Trump's political opponents dug in and fought for every inch of political terrain, successfully blocking conservative attempts to repeal Democratic-backed healthcare reforms and spend tens of billions of dollars on a US-Mexico border wall, and fighting immigration law changes in the courts.
After Trump's presidential term ended in controversy and chaos four years later, with his supporters attacking the US Capitol, dozens of powerful American corporations – including American Express, Microsoft, Nike and Walgreens - cut ties to Trump as well as Republicans who challenged the results of the 2020 election. Many in Trump's own party denounced the former president.
This time around, such evidence of resistance – at least for the moment – is difficult to discern. Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who as Senate majority leader sharply criticised Trump in 2021 but opposed his impeachment conviction, has been offering stern warnings about the dangers of an "America First" foreign policy.
The 82-year-old McConnell, however, stepped down from his leadership position in the Senate earlier this year and is unlikely to seek re-election in 2026. There is little Trump or his supporters can do to threaten him at this point.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen congressional Democrats have said they will skip Trump's 20 January inauguration ceremony.
"I don't think that this is a time for celebration," Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett said. "I think that if we had a traditional Republican, where there were disagreements, then I would most likely be there."
But while some Democrats may stay home, the party for Trump and his supporters is in full swing - and, given his remarks on Monday, the president-elect seems to know it.
Once Trump takes offices and begins attempting to implement his agenda of mass deportations and trade tariffs, however, opposition could build – both from Democrats looking for political opportunity and from adversely affected business interests.
Then the fighting Trump remembers from his first term could quickly re-emerge.
North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of US politics in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.