For President-elect Trump, second time is the charm — at least when it comes to winning elections and gaining the establishment recognition he has always sought.
Trump has been honored at home and abroad since winning the election against Vice President Harris in November. It's the kind of public pageantry he eschewed after his shock victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The nature of this praise elicits an unusual level of glee from President Trump. Biographers say the man left no trace of his suburban upbringing in Queens, New York, where his family's wealth wasn't enough to buy all the staples. to Manhattan's cultural elite.
This time the praises and invitations came thick and fast.
President Trump was invited to France last weekend at the request of President Emmanuel Macron. The main event was a ceremony to mark the reopening of the ornate Notre Dame Cathedral.
The visit also included a meeting with Trump, Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Elysée Palace, the French presidential palace.
Macron told Trump it would be a “great honor for the French people” to welcome the president-elect.
According to the Associated Press, “President Macron blew the trumpet and greeted members of the uniformed Republican Guard, giving President Trump the full diplomatic welcome that France would give to a sitting American president.” went.”
While in Paris, President Trump also met with Britain's Prince William.
The meeting between the two sides lasted 40 minutes, during which they “discussed a range of global issues, but focused on the importance of the special relationship between the UK and the US,” according to the BBC.
President Trump also appeared to be planning a more unusual and controversial statement of global recognition, as it was revealed that he had invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his inauguration ceremony on January 20.
Mr. Xi appears to be in decline. But CNN reported that Trump's team is reaching out to other leaders to join in the celebration.
The names mentioned are cut from a similar lineage of right-wing populists as Trump. include Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Millei.
But it's not just on the world stage that Trump is enjoying the newly elected presidential garland in a simpler way than he did eight years ago.
On Thursday, Trump rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Somewhat surprisingly, this honor was the first he had ever received in his decades as a New York-based real estate developer.
With a big smile on his face, Trump announced that it was a “great honor.” The occasion was also intended to commemorate his being named Person of the Year by Time magazine.
The magazine's editors are always keen to emphasize that the title is intended to recognize the people who have had the most impact of the year, whether positive or negative. Infamously, Adolf Hitler was given the title of “Man of the Year'' in 1938 at the time.
But Trump didn't heed such warnings, especially since this was his second time being nominated by the magazine. He was also named Person of the Year in 2016, but “this time was better,” he said.
As if that wasn't enough, Trump is also the object of affection for some businessmen with whom he has had a rocky relationship.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos caused a media firestorm when he announced just before the election that the Washington Post, which Bezos also owns, would not endorse any candidate.
Many liberals saw this as a preemptive knee-jerk by Bezos. Immediately after the election, Bezos declared he was “optimistic” about Trump's second term.
Meta Mark Zuckerberg, who Trump once threatened to jail if he returned to power, visited Mar-a-Lago late last month to have dinner with the president-elect. This week, it was revealed that Meta Inc. will donate $1 million to help fund President Trump's inauguration.
Elon Musk, reportedly the richest man in the world, was never an enemy of President Trump. But Musk has risen to a new level, spending well over $100 million to help elect Trump.
Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead President Trump's efforts to cut wasteful spending once the new administration takes office.
Mr. Trump seems to revel in this praise, in part because, at least by the standards of the past decade, the criticism is taking place in a relatively subdued context.
Liberals seem more disappointed than encouraged by Trump's victory — perhaps because it was less shocking and because of the foreign interference allegations that swirled in 2016. Probably because of it.
To be sure, there are many Americans who are outraged and fearful about his upcoming presidency.
But the overall somber tone of the anti-Trump “resistance” suggests that street protests on the scale of the massive Women's March that took place the day after the 2017 presidential inauguration are unlikely. .
Certainly, there will soon be disputes and hardships.
But for now, Mr. Trump is happy to bask in the praise of the domestic and global establishment that seeks his favor.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.
