| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the earliest biographer of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. On Sundays, we look at the major themes of the week past and how they will define the week ahead. Sign up for the daily newsletter here.  Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images In noisy historic moments like this, it's not often you get the opportunity to hear from someone with deep insight inside the Trump psyche. And if there's anything Bloomberg Opinion's senior executive editor Tim O'Brien learned about Donald Trump's presidential victory this week, it's this: The economy is more important to the president-elect's voters than integrity, democracy and tolerance. Tim would know — he's one of the president-elect's earliest biographers. And this week, he admitted that Trump "schooled" the Democrats, Kamala Harris, and "me, frankly." "I thought the economy was humming along vibrantly enough that voters could afford to reject Trump's corruption and divisiveness," Tim writes in his column. "I thought they might focus on the economy as well as Trump's character. But I think voters prioritized economic predictability so much — because they prize the safety, independence and dignity that flows from having a job in an era of financial uncertainty — that they embraced Trump as an economic savior despite his character." The next few months in particular are going to test the country. So I asked Tim three further questions to consider as America prepares for their 47th president. Despite Harris' loss, there was a glass ceiling broken this week. Trump announced his campaign manager Susie "The Ice Maiden" Wiles would serve as the first-ever female White House chief of staff in US history. Meanwhile, Elon Musk and his sink are about to find out what $130 million will get him. (A phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is just the start.) Then there's Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who already has Trump's blessing to set the health agenda for his second term. Who else will Trump surround himself with this time? He has always had the need to surround himself with yes-men and yes-women (though they are typically men) because he likes advisers who stroke his ego. He did that throughout his business career and during his first White House stay. That usually comes at the expense of expertise and competence. This time around he wants a team that implements his vision rather than restrains him, as was something of the case during the prior administration. So he may be willing to sacrifice fealty for competence — but you never know. They are likely to run around taking a sledgehammer to things just to see what happens. From "hating" Taylor Swift for endorsing Kamala Harris, to famously berating Fed Chair Jerome Powell for keeping rates too high, to failing to win a $5 billion lawsuit against Tim himself over his book: TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald … Trump's list of enemies is long. What does the rest of Trump's revenge tour look like? Trump has always felt unloved by the elites he has longed to be welcomed by — in government, business, media, academia and elsewhere. He thinks it's their fault that they don't appreciate his various idiosyncrasies and oddities. He also feels that he was unfairly targeted as a businessman, candidate and president by law enforcement, the media, Democrats and life. So he has revenge on his mind. That will take the form of legal attacks, funding battles, public confrontations, and the weaponization of the military and the Justice Department, I imagine. But we'll have to see. He's deeply angry. By Thursday, the president-elect told NBC he had spoken to "probably" 70 world leaders since his win was declared. Across the pond, the British establishment "is reeling" because Prime Minister Keir Starmer is "everything that Trump dislikes embodied in one person," and their current Foreign Secretary denounced Trump as "a KKK" and a "Nazi." In Australia, my country's leader once said Trump "scares the sh*t out of [him]," and our ambassador to the US has been deleting online comments he previously made labelling Trump as "the most destructive president in history." And these are the allies! What does Trump 2.0 actually mean for the rest of the world? Trump 2.0 will mean the US retreating military and financially from generous commitments to its allies. It will mean leaving Western Europe, parts of Asia, and more specifically Ukraine — and possibly Taiwan — in the lurch. I think Trump has no patience for the idea of the US as a global policeman and for spending time and money on diplomacy and overseas military engagements. So I think the US will pull back from the world during Trump 2.0, as if it's the 19th century again. He is content living in the past and it's his comfort zone. So he'll take the US to the lounge chair with him. There was a lot of talk throughout the election about how this campaign was being shaped by pop culture, Charlie XCX and coconut memes. But as we established earlier, all Americans really wanted was a better economy, on their terms. It's a stark reminder for us all that social media is *not* real life. So on that note! I run social media for Bloomberg Opinion. And this week it was my pleasure to spearhead our coverage in my first on-the-ground US election. In addition to all the excellent columns you've been reading this week, our columnists have provided commentary on other platforms. Here's what you missed: Election Day Live Bonanza: Tim O'Brien and Nia-Malika Henderson joined an array of columnists to discuss how each candidate handled the major issues across the campaign. The Trump Trades: Wednesday marked the best post-election day for the US stock market in history. John Authers took us through the winners and losers. Fed Day: Jonathan Levin joined Ernie Tedeschi, Allison Schrager and Zillow's Orphe Divounguy to discuss what impact Trump's victory will have on interest rates. The World Under Trump: America's allies have no idea what's coming from Trump 2.0, but they're fearing the worst, explains Andreas Kluth.
Do you think an intern could do all that? Our followers certainly do: Anyway, follow us on Threads, TikTok, X, Instagram and LinkedIn. We'll be doing this for the next four years, or however long these platforms take to self-combust. Notes: Please send lounge chairs and feedback to Christine Vanden Byllaardt at cvandenbylla@bloomberg.net. | 
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