Position beautifies a man: Former enemies seek peace with Trump

During my first term, everyone was fighting with me; at this moment, everyone wants to be friends with me, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said at an event on a $100 billion investment by a Japanese conglomerate.

As noted by the BBC, this statement may come off as typical Trump hyperbole, but the contrast between how his first presidential term began and ended and how his second term has begun eight years later, is truly astonishing. In recent weeks, many of the president-elect’s former critics and opponents have made conciliatory gestures toward him.

Leaders of major companies, such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and Sam Altman of OpenAI, have pledged millions to celebrate Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced he will meet with Trump. Just before Thanksgiving, Zuckerberg, whose Facebook had previously banned Trump, dined with the president-elect twice at his private club in Florida.

This atmosphere of reconciliation extends beyond corporate boardrooms. A noticeable shift is also apparent in the press. For example, Time magazine has named Trump “Person of the Year.”

“This is a very promising time for our people. We eagerly look forward to working together to build America’s success and shared prosperity,” Time’s owner Marc Benioff wrote on X.