From Europe to our neighbors to the south and north to the Middle East to Middle America, Trump is making an impact like no president-elect in history. Breaking norms in all the Make America Great Again ways by, basically, putting America first. How refreshing.
And to show his acumen in this realm, and lessons learned from his first presidency, Trump is using social media posts and a visit to the rebuilt Notre Dame Cathedral to establish himself as the Alpha on a world stage with no shortage of them.
Here’s a rundown of his accomplishments before actually returning to power.
North America
Trump has promised tariffs of at least 25 percent on America’s three biggest trading partners, Canada, Mexico and China. Americans have suffered from unfair trading partners for decades and both-party Washington did nothing about it, and too often encouraged it. China is the worst, but Canada has done it also. And Mexico, well the failed and corrupt narco-state is just a terrible neighbor in every way.
Trump’s tariff threats got the immediate attention of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who quickly flew to Mar-a-Lago over Thanksgiving to try to make nice. And to further show who is in charge, Trump referred to Canada as America’s 51st state and Trudeu as governor. Expect Canada to become very malleable on behalf of Americans’ interests.
Trump treated Mexican President and avowed socialist Claudia Sheinbuam with slightly more respect, referring to a “very productive conversation.” But Mexico, while sounding more bellicose, will do everything it can to mollify Trump, and that will mean good things for Americans. What we can hope for is real and lasting inroads in degrading the cartels that have destroyed so many American lives. It’s past time.
China has responded to Trump’s tariff promises by implementing a new “moderately loose” fiscal policy. This represents China’s first public change in its fiscal policy in 13 years. The Chinese know that, unlike most American politicians and presidents, Trump actually keeps campaign promises and follows through on threats. No vacuous red lines for him.
Trump also intends to lower the business tax rate to 15 percent, a boon to big and small businesses that will goose growth and hiring of Americans as illegal aliens who have been stealing these jobs will be deported. And this will help the Americans who have suffered the most from the unfair trade practices of China and Europe and the outsourcing of American manufacturing to China, Mexico and elsewhere.
Europe will definitely prefer to negotiate a truce than actually enter into a trade war they are destined to lose, particularly with their major economies, such as Germany, already teetering under far left policies on energy and immigration. Trump likes to make deals and Europeans will prefer that. China will flex more, but is likely to also seek accommodation rather than a trade war as their economy is also faltering on several fronts.
The Middle East
After the extraordinary weakness and incompetence of the Biden administration in the humiliating withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, stranding Americans and Afghan allies to the tender mercies of the Taliban just to score a cheap political point, the bad guys everywhere were quickly emboldened. It blew up politically for the Biden puppets, but the damage was done.
That is changing rapidly. Trump will not get dragged into a Middle East conflict with boots on the ground, but he has already proven he is willing to use U.S. military force when necessary to decapitate America’s enemies. They all know that the open season on American troops is over. You kill Americans, you will pay dearly.
The situation strengthens Israel’s hand to act to fortify its tiny nation and surroundings from the unending terror attacks it has endured. Trump won’t hamstring them as Biden has done. His attitude is basically, let those countries sort it out. “This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved,” Trump posted on social media. Israel is fine with that.
The incredibly successful Abraham Accords creating true peace in the Middle East will be back on the table, this time from a position of strength by America and our allies in the region. Hamas continues to hold hostages, including Americans. A neutered Biden administration did nothing to attempt to rescue them or pressure Hamas to release them. Trump has said on social media that there would be “all hell to pay” if Hamas is still holding Americans when he takes office.
And then there is Iran, which is frantically trying to figure out how to deal with Trump, who has been very sure about not letting the Mullahs get nukes. After Israel exposed how easily it can take out Iran’s air defenses and attack wherever it wants to in the country, Iran is about to feel very exposed with the new sheriff in town.
Trump cryptically and threateningly said of the chance of going to war with Iran: “Anything can happen. It’s a very volatile situation.” Iran has played it safe in responding to Israel’s highly successful raids, carefully calculating domestic appearances without further antagonizing Israel and the new sheriff. They are now using backchannels to begin discussions with the Trump team.
Europe
Trump has made it more than clear that, unlike other American presidents, he is unwilling to be the defender of Europe when European nations refuse to live up to their NATO promise to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on military. And as usual he is carrying a big stick, saying he would let Russians do “whatever the hell they wanted” to countries who continued to stiff the United States on defence. He has said he is willing to keep the U.S. in NATO only if European countries are “paying their bills, and if they’re treating us fairly.”
He went on similar themes in his first tour as president and several nations responded with increased expenditures, but then they reverted to their norm of stiffing the U.S. when Biden took office. So he knows this works. And it is working. European countries are now discussing a $635 billion defense fund they would open up to non-EU states, including the U.K. And they are discussing increasing their targets from 2 percent of GDP to 3 percent of GDP.
On Ukraine, Trump met with Ukrainian President Zelensky in Paris last week to discuss ending the war, something the current administration of bumbling leftists and warmongers has found impossible to even ponder. Trump opposes endless money for Ukraine and would stop long-range missile attacks on Russia.
Trump may well be successful. Ukraine is an exhausted army backed by an exhausted nation. They've been frustrated with Biden’s dragging-it-out approach to funding and war materials, and they’ve paid a steep price in blood and treasure. And Russia has sent signals for years that it is willing to negotiate. No agreement can be accomplished until there are first negotiations, and this is right in Trump’s wheelhouse.
The Economy
The massive Japanese investment firm, SoftBank Group, is planning to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years.
CEO Masayoshi Son is set to announce the plans at a joint event with Trump next week at Mar-a-Lago. People familiar with the Monday event say that the multinational giant estimates that its U.S. investments will create 100,000 American jobs, which will focus on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. The plan is to have all the work complete by January 2029 — not coincidentally when Trump leaves office. This is only happening because Trump won and is proactive on the world stage as president-elect.
Part of SoftBank’s thinking is likely the tax and regulation cuts that Trump and Congress are working on, along with potential tariffs. These bills are already being written, at least in first drafts, and this was an area of success in Trump's first term.
All of this, including all of the official meetings with heads of state, is well outside the norms for a president-elect. But we have a non-president and a state-media complex well outside the norms in their nearly decade-long persecution of political opponents. This acting outside the American norms has been driven by the left, not the right and not by Trump.
Trump acting outside the norms of a president-elect is necessary and right.
Rod Thomson is a former daily newspaper reporter and columnist, Salem radio host and ABC TV commentator, and current Founder of The Thomson Group, a Florida-based political consulting firm. He has eight children and seven grandchildren and a rapacious hunger to fight for America for them. Follow him on Twitter at @Rod_Thomson. Email him at [email protected].
