Big bosses, media and technology representatives, foreign leaders… After his surprise victory in 2016, many had snubbed Donald Trump, but this time, personalities from the world of business and media are vying to get close to the president-elect.
“During my first term, the whole world was fighting me. In this term, the whole world wants to be my friend,” the man in question observed the day before yesterday, Monday, during a press conference from his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
“Right now, people think it’s better to have his favor, but the problem for them is that that favor often varies,” Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University, is already warning.
Since his election on November 5, and with the exception of a few brief trips, for example to reopen Notre Dame, Donald Trump has welcomed visitors to this sprawling beachfront, palm-fringed complex with its heavy interior design.
It is a private club, the annual admission fee to which, according to the press, rose sharply last summer and now reaches $1 million a year.
There, Donald Trump invited his future cabinet ministers for an audience, between a reception and a round of golf.
It was also in Florida that the president-elect, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, hosted a dinner for Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, a social network that had banned him after his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
On Monday, the 78-year-old billionaire completed the list, saying he also saw Google boss Sadar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
“And we’ll also have Jeff Bezos, of Amazon, coming in this week (…). We’ve got a lot of big bosses, the biggest bosses, the biggest bankers, the whole world is calling,” the Republican assured, reiterating that it’s “the exact opposite” of what he experienced before his first stint in the White House, from 2017 to 2021.
That first term had left an impression of constant improvisation. If high-profile visitors are succeeding one another in Florida, it’s because they expect, rightly or wrongly, a Trump 2.0 presidency more structured and decisive, especially to attack the targets the Republicans will set out, whether they be businessmen, journalists or political opponents.
Donald Trump “has made it known that he will use all the powers of the presidency to take on anyone who would defy him, and now he seems to understand better how to do it, and he also has Supreme Court immunity that protects him” while in the White House, Wendy Schiller explains.
The head of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Albert Burla, visited Mar-a-Lago and, when Donald Trump was recently invited to ring the bell that marks the start of stock trading on Wall Street, other big names in the business world were present.
Foreign dignitaries also succeeded each other at the Florida residence, the true epicenter of the new power.
Some are Republican sympathizers, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or Argentine President Javier Millay.
But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and new NATO chief Mark Rutte were also seen passing by, who each have their own reasons to be concerned about the president-elect’s future decisions.
One of the most commented upon visits was that of two anchors from the MSNBC television network, who were nonetheless fierce critics of Donald Trump.
Their trip to Florida reveals the fear of the American media world of an elected president who at his rallies has his audience disapprove of journalists, whom he calls “enemies of the people.”
The Republican filed a lawsuit the day before yesterday, Monday, against a prestigious Iowa newspaper for publishing a pre-election poll that had him losing that state, which he ultimately won.
For its part, the US television network ABC agreed to pay $15 million to end a defamation lawsuit brought against the Republican billionaire.
Donald Trump also has his sights set on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” which he accuses of manipulating in favor of Camala Harris an answer his Democratic opponent had given in the election.
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