Inauguration Day is still a month away, but Donald Trump is already getting the lion’s share of media attention.
The president-elect gave his first formal press conference since winning the election on Monday, during which he announced SoftBank’s $100 billion investment in the U.S. and gave substantive answers on a wide range of topics. The presser drew surprising praise from the media, which is a marked change from the last eight years.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by the hosts of 2WAY’s Morning Meeting – Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine – to discuss the driving force behind the shifting dynamics.
Trump’s Press Conference
Trump took questions from reporters for over an hour on Monday at Mar-a-Lago, and his answers made headlines on a number of fronts. In addition to the SoftBank news, Trump doubled down on his tariff talk and promised his plans “will make our country rich.” He also weighed in on the ongoing ‘drone’ controversy, suggesting the Biden administration knows more than it is letting on and calling for transparency.
Just as his nominee for Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., prepared to make the rounds on Capitol Hill to court senators, Trump poured cold water on the claims that Kennedy would revoke vaccines. Instead, he left open the possibility of vaccine reviews.
As it relates to the U.S. Senate seat that will presumably be vacated by his Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, Trump seemed to downplay the idea of his daughter-in-law Lara Trump getting tapped. He said he trusts that Gov. Ron DeSantis will “make the right decision.”
Trump also fielded questions on the numerous foreign policy crises he will face upon returning to the Oval Office, including the wars between Israel and Gaza and Russia and Ukraine. And he spoke optimistically about his ability to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping on global issues.
The Reaction
All of this led many media outlets to commend the president-elect for making himself available. The Washington Post went so far as to write Trump “embraces [the] role of president in waiting” in giving a lengthy presser full of “substance.”
Megyn asked Spicer, who worked in the first Trump administration, for his thoughts on what appears to be a “kindler, gentler” version of the forty-fifth president, and he offered a different word to describe it. “I think we are seeing a more pragmatic Trump,” he said. “In 2016 when he won, they tried to delegitimize the win. People were attacking him. It was ‘Russia,’ ‘you didn’t win the popular vote,’ this and that. He felt like he was on defense – and rightly so. We had false accusations lobbed from one end to the other.”
With Trump winning both the popular vote and the Electoral College and propelling the GOP to majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate, Spicer said that seems to be less of a problem this time around. “This time, everyone from folks in the media to Big Tech and corporate leaders are embracing him,” he noted. It is a much different environment, and I think he flourishes in this. He wants people to come to Mar-a-Lago to talk to him about doing business… [and] making investments in the United States.”
Halperin agreed. “You don’t have to be super MAGA… to recognize just the nightmare that Donald Trump entered the office with [in 2016] because the dominant media created an environment… that he was an illegitimate president,” he said.
He was then bogged down with years of investigations, impeachments, indictments, a 2020 loss, January 6, and the narrative that he could never win another election. “I think he feels a sense of satisfaction, but he also has created an understanding that he gets it better,” Halperin said. “This time, he understands how to be president way better.”
Turrentine is a former Democratic strategist and said he is not surprised by the new dynamic. “In 2016, I think Democrats were first stunned and they immediately turned to anger just this idea that… there was just no way that he had won or earned the office outright. Now, I think Democrats are just exhausted,” he explained. “[Trump] has maximum political power. Perhaps no one has been riding into the office with more leverage than Trump has in a long time.”
In many respects, Turrentine said Democrats only have themselves to blame. “Part of that is because Joe Biden is essentially missing in action,” he concluded. “Mark likes to make the joke that during the presidential transition, there is only one president at a time. Right now, that appears to be the president-elect, Donald Trump.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Halperin, Spicer, and Turrentine by tuning in to episode 967 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.