Trump's confidence and understanding of policy in his press conference this morning explained his honeymoon after a very popular election and that is the subject of the riff. Wouldn't it be great to have a president who could easily stand up at a press conference and make statements and answer questions for 70 minutes, without a teleprompter? Fearless, confident and sticking to his principles. That's the one President Trump do this morning at Mar-a-Lago. It's an interesting thing to see and it helps explain the cultural zeitgeist and the post-election honeymoon he's enjoying.

He led the way by allowing his business partner Masayoshi Son of Japan's Softbank investment fund to pledge $100 billion to invest in America First technology, which shows people are listening to Mr. Trump's proposal to bring new industries to America – and may be rewarded with a huge corporate tax rate of 15 the bottom %.

We already know that Mr. Trump is talking to world leaders around the world, moving toward his priority of ending the Russia-Ukraine war, or vowing "hell to pay" if he doesn't get the Hamas hostages released. Or close both our northern and southern borders to illegal immigrants.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago for dinner two weeks ago. That may be his last dinner since his top deputy just resigned in protest and he has an approval rating in the 20s, but let's wait and see how the show plays out.

Still, in today's press, President Trump repeated his warning of tariffs on Mexico and Canada and his trade bulldog Howard Lutnick stood there, in case anyone doubted Trump's commitment. Trump blasted the Biden administration for not telling the truth about the drone craze sweeping the US, .but he told us administration knew where they came from, and suggested it was not a hostile enemy.

Meanwhile, conservative columnist Ben Domenech believes the drone followed FAA rules in a planned Pentagon-sponsored exercise to test new drone systems. Ben pointed to a press release last June that apparently no one paid attention to. However, there is no reason for the Biden family to hide information about this drone story from the public.

Mr. Trump will defend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS Secretary and he is also considering a pardon for New York City Mayor Eric Adams – who was treated unfairly by the Biden Justice Department because the New York mayor said he would cooperate with Trump's policy to deport criminals and President Trump added he would have to see all the facts.

He is very gentle in suggesting that people will get along with him better in this second term than in the first, because they know he will keep his key policy promises, and they respect his electoral mandate for change.

However, he suggested he could bring a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register — whose crazy poll on election night showed Harris by three points in Iowa, which Trump ended up winning by fourteen. He called that election meddling -- and he's dead right.

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He criticized the Biden family for selling sections of the border wall for five cents on the dollar, knowing that he would be in need money and equipment to complete the construction of the wall. He called it a criminal act. Perhaps the only thing missing is a final decision on whether to delay the Trump 2.0 tax cuts until late next year, but that will be resolved soon.

He's not afraid to make decisions, Mr. Trump and he's not afraid to defend those decisions and he's not afraid to speak clearly and honestly to the American public and that's why his transition is so popular, his approval ratings are at record highs during this honeymoon, and he continues to control - what I call - the new American zeitgeist. That's the riff.

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow's opening commentary in the December 16, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."