President-elect Trump sought to thread the needle at a press conference Monday at Mar-a-Lago, refuting suggestions that the incoming administration will become dangerously radical, while avoiding any hint of actual setbacks. did.
Trump's appearances before reporters at his Florida resort at times differed in tone from his rhetorical bombshells at campaign rallies.
In particular, he sought to appease those who had cast a dangerous light on his candidates, especially Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But Trump's criticisms, including a threat to sue over a poll from a prominent pollster in Iowa that gave Vice President Harris a far more favorable impression than reflected in November's results in the Hawkeye State, There were still many factors that alarmed those in the military and pleased his supporters.
President Trump said he is suing out of a “sense of duty,” not because he wants to sue over the Des Moines Register's investigation into Ann Selzer.
But Trump's comments about Kennedy were particularly shocking. The scion of a famous family is on Capitol Hill this week trying to shore up support from Republican senators.
If all Democrats vote against Kennedy's nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services, he would only lose three Republicans.
Kennedy's extreme skepticism about vaccines is the most controversial element of his heretical beliefs about public health.
Other elements of his views, such as criticism of over-processed foods and the closeness of the pharmaceutical industry to regulators, enjoy much wider support.
The public health community was further alarmed by recent revelations that a friend and lawyer of President Kennedy had petitioned to revoke federal approval of a type of polio vaccine.
He also received a thinly veiled rebuke from outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who suffered from polio as a child.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven treatments are not only ignorant, they are dangerous,” McConnell, who is resigning as party leader but will vote on President Kennedy's nomination as a sitting senator, said in a statement Friday. mentioned in.
But Trump tried to cast Kennedy's beliefs in a more rational light.
“I think you'll find that Bobby… is a very reasonable guy. He's not going to lose the polio vaccine. That's not going to happen,” Trump insisted at a press conference on Monday.
President Trump said he too is a “big believer” in the polio vaccine, and further insisted that President Kennedy would not invalidate any vaccine.
In fact, Trump has taken a more skeptical stance on mandating vaccines than on vaccines themselves.
Politically speaking, the significance of the remarks to Kennedy is that Trump needs to make the transition effort as smooth as possible.
He has already lost one high-profile candidate, as former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) withdrew from his candidacy for attorney general. Another Trump supporter, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, is also currently nominated.
In addition to Kennedy, there are question marks over at least two of Trump's other prominent nominees. They are media commentator Pete Hegseth, who was nominated to be Secretary of Defense, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, whom Trump nominated to be Director of National Intelligence. .
However, during Monday's press conference, President Trump further emphasized his support for Hegseth, who has been under pressure over sexual assault allegations, which the former Fox News commentator denied.
Other organizations where Hegseth worked have also reported excessive drinking and mismanagement by Hegseth.
President Trump insisted that Hegseth had made “tremendous progress” in the past week toward winning the nomination, but praised his media skills and said it would be a “tragedy” if he was not confirmed. .
More broadly, Mr. Trump tried to create a semblance of bipartisanship, however tenuous, by empathizing with the plight of New York Mayor Eric Adams (D).
President Trump has indicated he would consider pardoning Adams, who the president-elect said had been treated “very unfairly.”
Adams was indicted in September on bribery, campaign finance and conspiracy charges.
Mr. Adams remained in office, taking a page from Mr. Trump's playbook and maintaining his innocence and claiming he was the victim of a politically motivated prosecution.
In line with his slightly more conciliatory tone, President Trump also appeared to backtrack on a suggestion that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) appoint the president-elect's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to the Senate.
The vacant seat will be created by President Trump's nomination of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to be Secretary of State.
“That's his choice,” Trump said of deciding who to replace DeSantis and Rubio. It has nothing to do with me. Lara can't believe it. ”
To be clear, this does not mean that President Trump has softened his stance.
In addition to threatening to sue over the Iowa polls, he renewed his defense of his proposal to impose steep tariffs on U.S. imports.
Many experts believe that tariffs are an ineffective measure that would add to inflationary pressures in the country's only recently recovering economy. But President Trump seems unwilling to change direction.
“Our country is now second to none. Very few people have any surplus,” he said.
Trump, being Trump, also addressed two of the nation's most talked-about stories: the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the appearance of large numbers of drones in the northeastern sky.
President Trump complained about the public's praise for Thompson's murder suspect, Luigi Mangione, 26, and claimed the government knows more about drones than it is admitting.
But most of all, this was at least chaotic for President Trump.
At least for now, it appears the president-elect wants to make his path to power as smooth as possible next month.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.
