EMPATHY Whether dishing out fries at McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, attending a UFC event in New York, or speaking about the open southern border with podcaster Joe Rogan, President-elect Donald Trump showed he was more concerned and better informed about the plight of everyday Americans regarding the economy, crime, and the cultural direction of this country.


trial country anywhere on earth,” Trump declared during the cam- paign. “I want to be No. 1.” One reason Team Trump


feels bullish about driving en- ergy prices way down: During his first term in office, the Unit- ed States became a net exporter of energy for the first time in 70 years.


And in 2018, it surpassed Sau-


di Arabia as the world’s top ener- gy producer overall — a distinc- tion it has held ever since. Much of that success stemmed from unleashing the fracking boom. Cheaper energy not only


eases price pressure on consum- ers, but because energy impacts the costs of goods and services throughout the economy, it means businesses as well as con- sumers benefit. Among the plans to boost en-


ergy production in the Trump administration’s first 100 days: Easing restrictions on federal


leases for offshore oil and gas ex- ploration Lifting the Biden-era “pause”


on exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports Scrapping once again the Paris


Agreement on climate Canceling the offshore wind projects that Trump said are


“horrible” and “ruin the environ- ment”


Encouraging the development


of nuclear power to meet the en- ergy demands of data farms and artificial intelligence (AI) These policies, aimed at


sharply lowering energy costs, are designed to stimulate de- mand and boost the economy — without triggering higher in- flation. “One of the reasons manufac-


turing jobs were flooding back into the United States when I was president,” Trump said, “was that we dramatically re- duced energy costs.” Doug Burgum, the North Da-


kota governor tapped as Trump’s interior secretary, is expected to craft a new five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan. Once Trump moves back into the Oval Office, the number of leases to be auctioned off through the re- mainder of this decade would jump tenfold. The regulatory hurdles embraced by climate ac- tivists are also expected to fade. In addition to those efforts,


Trump also is launching a new National Energy Council to co- ordinate energy production ef- forts across multiple agencies, including the Energy Depart-


ment, the Federal Energy Regu- latory Commission, and the En- vironmental Protection Agency. “We will develop the liquid


gold that is right under our feet,” Trump pledged on the campaign trail, “including American oil and natural gas. We’ll also em- brace nuclear, clean coal, hy- dropower — which is fantastic — and every other form of afford- able energy to get it done.” “More energy,” he added,


“means lower inflation and more jobs.” Tamping down inflation


with lower energy costs is im- portant because another item on Trump’s expansive to-do list could trigger a spike in prices — tariffs.


UNCLE SAM PLAYS NICE NO MORE


Trump and his economic team have made it clear they won’t tolerate other nations dumping heavily subsidized goods into the U.S. market, thereby forcing domestic companies to shutter factories and relocate their man- ufacturing. To help explain his thinking


on tariffs, Trump likes to tell a story about an encounter he had with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Trump asked her, “Angela, how many Chevrolets are in the


JANUARY 2025 | NEWSMAX 53


TEXAS/BRANDON BELL/GETTY IMAGES / TAG/ANTON GVOZDIKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100