Trump conference covers variety of topics

Controversial comments range from TikTok ban to drone sightings

By: Kosh Meyer
and Karlssa Waddick
USA today

WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump's first press conference since winning reelection demonstrated once again his ability to dominate a news cycle - and on a variety of fronts.
..... Trump had organized Monday's [12/16/2024] event at Mar-a-Lago to tout a $100 billion investment he negotiated with a major Japaneses tech firm. But, by the time it ended more than an hour later, he had stoked a media frenzy with controversial comments on a range of topics - from the potential ban on the social media platform TikTok to the causes of autism and the origin of drones hat have been sighted over New Jersey and elsewhere.
..... In many ways, Trump's news conference brought back memories from his first term, when the former Republican president frequently entered the White House briefing room to jostle with reporters and, with his responses, control the daily headlines.
..... But Monday's [12/16/2024] atmosphere appeared more cordial. He stood at a lectern alongside SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son and Howard Lutnick, his pick for Commerce secretary and also the co-lead of his transition team, Looking at ease, Trump said his 2024 transition, so far, is going a lot easier than his first one after his 2016 victory over democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
..... "The first time everybody was fighting me," Trump said. "This time everyone wants to be my friend. I don't know. My personality changed or something."
..... Trump quickly segued from one topic to another, sometimes answering the questions asked of him and at other time choosing to go off on his own. His event went of for so long, in fact, that it cut into the scheduled state time for President Joe Biden;s prepared remarks about a new national monument in Newcastle, Maine, with Interior Secretary Interior Deb Haaland.
..... Here are some takeaways form Trump's post election presser:

A lifeline for TikTok?

..... Trump created fresh questions on Monday [12/16/2024] about how his administration will handle a potential ban of TikTok after telling reporters that he had a "warm spot" for the social media platform.
..... TikTok's ByteDance, is staring down a mid-January [2025] deadline to sell the app. The video site, popular with young people, will disappear from app stores and the web in the U.S. if it doesn't.
..... Congress imposed the deadline in bipartisan legislation earlier this year [2024] out of concern that the platform poses national security concerns.
..... But Trump said he believed the social media app, which about 170 million Americans use, helped him gain ground with pivotal young voters in the 2024 election and would "take a look," at the ban, which would go into effect the day before his inauguration. [01/19/2025]

Autism, big Pharma and other gllmpses into health agenda

..... Trump spoke at length during the conference about how his administration would handle hot-button health issues, saying he has "very brilliant people looking at it" and that he has been conferring over dinner with industry titans, including the leaders of Pfizer and Eli Lilly.
..... The president-elect also vowed to lower drug prices by targeting middle-men in the pharmaceutical business who he says are profiteering off average Americans. And he expressed support for the polio vaccine, even as his pick for helaht secretary, Robert F; Kennedy Jr., and allies have continued their overall vaccine scrutiny and skepticism.
..... Trump said he's heard hat the number of autism cases has dramatically increased from more than one in 100,000 about 30 years ago to "One in 100" now. "there's something wrong," he said, "and we're going to find out about it."
..... Kennedy,a former presidential candidate turned Trump backer, has come under fire for his anti-vaccine position and spread of misleading claims linking vaccines and autism diagnoses.
..... But Trump said Monday [12/16/2024] that he thinks Kennedy is "going to be much less radical than you would think. I think he's got a very open mind, or I wouldn't have put him there."

Drones everywhere, including above Trump's Bedminster estate

..... Trump accused the Biden administration of keeping the truth about recent drone sightings form the American public, and said he's postponing a trip to his Bedminster estate and golf course in New Jersey because of them.
..... "The government knows what is happing," Trump said of the drone sightings over many states.

Rebuilding the border wall

..... Trump also returned to one of his favorite campaign topics: the border wall with Mexico.
..... He accused the Biden administration of selling off unused portions of the sprawling structure and threatened legal action to stop it.
..... "We're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on building the same wall we already have," Trump said. "It's almost a criminal act."
..... Trump was referencing a report by the conservative-leaning Daily Wire that features video pieces and remarks leaving with wall pieces and remarks from an anonymous border patrol agent disusing the removal and sale of wall materials taken form three spots in Arizona.
..... A Biden administration official disputed the characterization, saying th disposal of unused wall material followed a mandate in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024, which Biden singed into law last December [2023] requiring the defense Department to cerate a plan to "use, transfer, or donate"materials.

Firing federal employees who won't return to work

..... Trump also vowed to fire any federal employees who don't physically return to their offices once his new administration begins and pledged to challenge in court a Biden-era agreement allowing for remote work.
..... "If people don't come back to work, come back into the office, they're going to be dismissed," Trump pledged.
..... Trump described as "ridiculous" what he said was a five-year waiver that the Biden administration gave to certain employees, calling it "a gift to a union, and we're obviously going to be in court to stop it."
..... The Social Security Administration and more than 40,000 workers represented by the American Federation of Government employees union reached a deal earlier this month [12/2024] that would allow most of those employees to continue working remotely tow to five days per week.

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