With new, potentially contentious trade policies, blocked takeovers and personnel overhauls at the White House, CNBC's Jim Cramer says 2018 is shaping up to be very different from 2017.

"I think you see radical inconsistencies that simply didn't exist in the halcyon days of 2017, where there were free passes all over the place," the "Mad Money" host said on Thursday.

Still, Cramer didn't want investors to get down on the stock market, or get out of it altogether, especially given the largely strong fundamentals supported by a global economic expansion.

"But looking to Washington for help? That's so 2017," he quipped.

"The bottom line is that this year we have a very different narrative, and it's a lot less favorable to higher stock prices," Cramer said, asking investors to be vigilant amid the daily tidal waves of Washington news.

"I still like the market, but last year's investing was downright easy and because of a difficult combination of higher interest rates – let's not forget those – and an inconsistent Washington … it's not going to be so easy anymore," he said.

After Toys R Us submitted plans to bankruptcy court to liquidate its U.S. business, Cramer found himself wondering if this was the ailing toy retailer's only solution.

"Sadly, yes," the "Mad Money" host declared on Thursday. "In the end, this chain had no reason for being. Toys R Us offered nothing special: not the lowest price, not the best selection, not the best service, not the best locations. Just nothing."

While many mourned the loss of the 70-year-old toy seller, Cramer was surprised at how long the company managed to stay afloat.

He argued that investors "should've started [their] lamentation 20 years ago" given its weakness, which was only exacerbated when Toys R Us went private in 2005 and tacked on $7.5 billion in debt.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has made it clear that a bid for Broadcom is not in his company's immediate interests.

"I can't speak about rumors, but I can tell you we've made two big acquisitions – biggest acquisitions in Intel's history – with Altera and Mobileye," Krzanich told Cramer in a Thursday interview.

"We're heads down on making those successful and right and they're our growth engines for the future," the CEO said.

On March 9, the Wall Street Journal reported that Intel, closely watching the recently ended takeover talks between Broadcom and Qualcomm, was considering a bid for Broadcom.

The rumored bid would have bolstered Intel's 5G, or fifth-generation wireless connectivity, networks, reports said. But on Thursday, Krzanich argued that Intel didn't need the boost.

HP Inc.'s $1.05 billion acquisition of Samsung Electronics' printing business will give HP Inc. access to a $55 billion market, HP Inc. President and CEO Dion Weisler told CNBC on Thursday.

Telling Cramer that the printing business is thriving both at home and in the office, Weisler said that his company is currently only "playing in" $55 billion of the $110 billion market.

"We did the Samsung acquisition because it opens up the other $55 billion copier market to us," Weisler told Cramer. "We have very low market share in that market segment, but we're growing there and so it gives us a growth platform for many years to come."

One-half of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s 2015 breakup, HP Inc. just logged its fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth — a trend Weisler has come to affectionately call the "double double."

"It's really off the back of incredible innovation, hyper-segmentation, cost control and just making the PC cool," Weisler said on Thursday.

With its $700 million acquisition of dietary supplement maker NutraNext, Clorox is making a deliberate stride into its newest target market: vitamins, minerals and supplements, CEO Benno Dorer told CNBC on Thursday.

"Two-thirds of the U.S. population use supplements and a lot of consumers, as we age, but also millennials, are looking for a healthier lifestyle and vitamins, minerals," Dorer told Cramer. "And supplements play an important role and in the future, for us, will form a very important and long-term growth runway."

Having acquired top probiotics brand Renew Life in 2016, Clorox has been pushing into the niche self-care space for some time. Dorer said that the company has recently started innovating within that space, with the first non-GMO-based Renew Life product in the works.

"We have a dedicated new line for kids ... because a lot of moms like to give their kids probiotics to aid with their health and wellness and their digestion, so this is a great growth platform for us," the CEO said. "We expect it to grow double digits this fiscal year and there's a lot of growth still to be had on Renew Life for us."

In Cramer's lightning round, he flew through his take on some callers' favorite stocks:

Ternium: "What're you doing with TX? Would you step up to Nucor? They pre-announced and it's not even up, for heaven's sake."

Chegg: "I think you ka-ching, ka-ching half of it and let the rest run. Let's not be pigs."

Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Broadcom and Nucor.