Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan B. Peterson believes President Donald Trump’s "brush with death" seems to have made him both "tougher" and "humbler" for his second stint in the White House than he was during his first term.
Much like Trump and DOGE leader Elon Musk, Peterson rejects wokeism and far-left ideology. Peterson feels it’s "too early to evaluate the Trump administration," but he likes what he has seen so far and is pleasantly surprised that the president has entrusted so many high-profile figures to carry out his agenda.
"It’s fascinating to watch Musk take his computer engineer geniuses to the line-by-line analysis" of the federal budget. I have some faith in Musk, in that regard, because he's turned around pathological organizations before and actually knows how to do that… and that's a difficult thing to do," Peterson told Fox News Digital.
Musk, who has been tasked with cutting federal spending, famously cut fat when he purchased Twitter in 2022 before rebranding the social media platform as X.
"You have to put someone who's done it in charge of it," Peterson said.
Peterson also feels it’s "very reassuring" that Trump, who typically has a proclivity to occupy center stage, share the spotlight with "other monsters of public opinion" like Musk, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance.
"There's every reason to be optimistic. And I'm very pleased, for example, that he eradicated gender-affirming care… which is a terrible lying phrase, that he eradicated gender-affirming care for minors," Peterson said.
"That was an appalling endeavor," he continued. "He's working hard to eradicate the pernicious influence of radical leftist postmodernist neo-Marxist ideology in the sciences."
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Trump signed an executive order that withholds federal funding to health care providers who prescribe youth puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or who perform surgery for gender dysphoria, although the move has been challenged by various liberal judges and lawmakers.
"More power to him, and I wish you well," Peterson added. "It looks to me like Trump is a much tougher, and more compelling, and maybe more civilized and humbler person than he was four years ago, and not least because of his brush with death."
Trump survived an assassination attempt when a bullet grazed his ear while speaking at a podium during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Trump has credited his campaign staff for his survival, saying they changed a slide on his presentation at the rally in time for him to turn his head just when the bullet struck him.
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Corey Comperatore — a husband, father of two and former fire chief for the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department — died after he was shot while protecting his wife and daughters from gunfire.
Peterson previously described Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris as "essential goodness" of the American people.
"And I think it is a testament to the enduring faith of Americans and their essential goodness," he said.
Peterson spoke to Fox News Digital from the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Conference in London. The three-day event offers thought leaders from across the globe a chance to formulate and exchange ideas.
Peterson, who helped form ARC, called it a "new movement designed to bring traditional conservatives and classic liberals together at the cultural level, at the foundational level, all across the Western world and the broader world as well."
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Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson, Gabriel Hays and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
