Trump muses about drones, wars and TikTok in first news conference as US President-elect
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Donald Trump seemed wiser to the ways of Washington and pleased, if a little bit puzzled, about his own new place in it.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PALM BEACH, Florida – In his first news conference since his election victory six weeks ago, US President-elect Donald Trump covered the Ukraine war, mysterious drones flying over New Jersey, the future of TikTok and lawsuits aimed at the media he often loves to hate.
Trump displayed the loquaciousness and bravado of his 2017-2021 White House years as he held court in an ornate room at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Dec 16, making an economic announcement and fielding questions for more than an hour.
He bantered with reporters, a departure from the dark rhetoric and anger he often flashed on the campaign trail. He answered questions about Ukraine and Israel, but declined to say whether he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin or whether he would support military strikes on Iran.
He seemed wiser to the ways of Washington and pleased, if a little bit puzzled, about his own new place in it, marvelling at the steady procession of foreign leaders wanting to congratulate him and corporate chief executives rushing to meet him
“The first term, everybody was fighting me,” he said. “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don’t know – my personality changed or something.”
Trump’s return to the White House on Jan 20 comes at a time of deep polarisation in the US and is likely to test democratic institutions at home and relations abroad.
Advisers say he has been focused on choosing members of his Cabinet and his broader team who are expected to carry out his plans to dramatically overhaul government and US policy.
Since his Nov 5 victory, Trump has not held one of his signature rallies or spoken at length to reporters, communicating instead through social media posts and the occasional speech.
On Dec 16, however, he had good economic news to announce.
With SoftBank Group chief executive Masayoshi Son at his side, Trump said the Japanese technology company would invest US$100 billion (S$135 billion) in the US
But that was just the warm-up act for the main event.
Standing in front of the Trump coat of arms, the President-elect outlined some of his priorities for his second term, criticised President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration and defended some of his own controversial Cabinet picks.
The lengthy back and forth marked a contrast with Mr Biden, who rarely holds news conferences.
‘Gotta make a deal’
Trump predicted his choice for health and human services secretary, Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr, would be “much less radical than you think”
Studies have found no links between vaccines and autism.
Trump said “it would be a tragedy” if his choice for defence secretary, former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, does not make it to Senate confirmation amid concerns about allegations of misconduct in his professional and personal life.
He spoke about the possibility of issuing a pardon to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and said he thought it was possible to eliminate US$2 trillion in government spending through the Elon Musk-led government efficiency project.
He said his administration will “take a look” at whether the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok should be banned in the US, and encouraged the US military to tell the American public more about the nature of the drone sightings over the East Coast in the last several weeks.
Trump also veered into personal grievances, vowing to file lawsuits against multiple media companies that he felt have abused him.
“Now you need fair elections, you need borders, and you need a fair press,” Trump said, touching on some of his favourite grievance-related topics. “Our press is very corrupt. Almost as corrupt as our elections.”
That interlude aside, he spent most of his time talking about foreign policy and the economy.
Of the world’s two biggest hot spots, he was blunt: Hamas needs to reach a deal with Israel on releasing the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza, or face the consequences.
If no ceasefire deal is reached by the time he takes office, Trump said, “it’s not going to be pleasant”.
He also said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky should be prepared to make a deal
“Gotta make a deal,” Trump said. REUTERS
