Trump Is Traveling Through Space And Time To Be President

The president has had a busy few weeks.

On Monday, he held a press conference for over an hour, discussing everything from the border wall to the hostage crisis in the Middle East. On Saturday, he attended the famed Army-Navy football game. Last Sunday, his interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” aired, also more than an hour. Earlier this month, he made an appearance at the historic reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the Ukraine-Russia war, and threatened “hell to pay” if hostages held by Hamas terrorists are not released. Just days before that, he met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the drugs and human beings trafficked into the U.S. across the border and had a similar call with the president of Mexico.

In the meantime, Joe Biden spent Thanksgiving in Nantucket, got lost onstage in Africa, and attended a few social functions in Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump won’t be inaugurated for another 33 days, but he, Joe Biden, and the rest of the world are all acting like he’s the president already.

For example: Trump got the attention of both Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo on Nov. 25 when he threatened to impose “a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States” from both border countries if they continue doing nothing to stop the waves of illegal aliens and substances pouring across the border. Two days later, Sheinbaum and Trump had what he called a “very productive conversation” about Mexico’s role in putting a stop to the border invasion.

A week later, “Sheinbaum announced the seizure of more than a ton of fentanyl in two raids in the state of Sinaloa,” reported the L.A. Times under a headline declaring “Mexico cracks down on drugs and migrants.”

For his part, Trudeau hopped on a plane and flew down to Trump’s Palm Beach home to dine with Trump on the day after Thanksgiving following Trump’s tariff threat. In a post afterward thanking Trump for dinner, Trudeau said he “look[ed] forward to the work we can do together.”

On Dec. 2, Trump threatened that “if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East.” Monday, Barron’s reported that “Israeli negotiators have never been closer to a deal for the release of hostages in Gaza” since November of last year, citing Israeli and Hamas sources.

Later that week, France literally rolled out the red carpet for Trump, who arrived in Paris to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame after it burned in 2019. (Joe Biden declined to attend, sending his wife instead.) Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron along with Zelensky and urged an “immediate ceasefire and negotiations” to end the war in Ukraine.

In between, Trump has found time to make more than 80 personnel picks and host foreign dignitaries such as Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli prime minister, and Akie Abe, the widow of assassinated Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Mark Zuckerberg, whose company helped throttle reporting that would have hurt Donald Trump’s opponent in the 2020 election, also dined with Trump at the incoming president’s Mar-a-Lago home a few weeks ago. Shortly afterward, Zuckerberg’s Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Trump is also expected to meet with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.

In last Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” sit-down with Kristen Welker, he laid out his priorities for his first 100 days and discussed tariff negotiations, the border crisis, his Cabinet picks, government healthcare, abortion, foreign relations, the war in Ukraine, lawfare and political prisoners, vaccines, government waste, the hostage crisis in Gaza, China’s influence via TikTok, and the media. When was the last time the sitting president answered questions unscripted on any of those topics?

In a press conference Monday, just about a week after “Meet the Press” aired, Trump announced a deal in which Japan’s SoftBank Group pledged a $100 billion investment “creating 100,000 American jobs at a minimum.” Afterward, he took questions from reporters for roughly 45 minutes, during which time he also reassured Americans about recent viral drone sightings in New Jersey, something the current president has yet to comment on.

After facing obstruction at every turn from the moment he assumed the presidency in 2016, one of the biggest concerns surrounding Trump’s second term has been whether he’ll be able to hit the ground running on day one. From the looks of things, he’s not doing just that — he’s getting a two-month head start.

Elle Purnell is the elections editor at The Federalist. Her work has been featured by Fox Business, RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women’s Forum. She received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell.